Elephants are known for their size, but tonight a small but mighty quartet of GoodGymmers were helping in the shadows of Twickenham stadium at at the Purple Elephant Project, charity that helps support with children’s mental health

Jane from the Purple Elephant Project a few jobs that needed doing outside in the garden area. The dark and cold January night didn’t put Harvey, Liz and Nina off piling and bagging up leaves that had fallen down and were carpeting the ground. As they say, rake it til ya make it!

Lucy had a hole different job, which was securing the fabric privacy screens along the edge of the fencing. The winter weather had caused it to come loose, and it was flapping around in the wind. Cable ties at the ready, the sheets were secured in the no time. And eyelet you in on a secret - a grommet press was used to help make holes to attach the zip ties to!

Jobs completed, Jane thanked up for our help on a chilly evening, and we made like a tree to leave.

Part of the RSPB big bird watch, counting birds to check on species and numbers across the UK.

Part of the RSPB big bird watch, counting birds to check on species and numbers across the UK.

Today’s task had us swapping trainers for binoculars as we took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. Our mission was simple: keep our eyes peeled, count the birds we spotted, and submit our findings to help track the UK’s bird population.

A few of us met in Marble Hill Park and we perched ourselves in prime viewing spots and soon we spotted a variety of familiar faces – from black crows, parakeets, robins and seagulls – all going about their daily beak-ness.

The task was a nice change of pace: calm, mindful, and a great reminder to slow down and appreciate nature. All observations were logged and submitted to the RSPB, helping them build a clearer picture of how our garden birds are doing. Overall, a very tweet task, well worth flocking to.

One GoodGymer was at Hatherop Park helping the Friends of Hatherop Park coppice some trees on another wet day in the end. The weather started out dry at first but that did not last. Me, myself and I cut away the ash trees to open the nature reserve up to some light.

One GoodGymer coppiced trees in the wet, wet, wet conditions for Friends of Hatherop Park in the forest. They are turning an abandoned bit of wasteland into a nature reserve and the stand of ash trees needs to be cut to let more diversity come in. A fair amount was done despite the rain. Time for some hot tea!