Three Goodgymers and two honorary members walked 3km in Cymbeline Meadows near to the City Centre. Our mission was to spend mindful time together observing, recording and enjoying our local surroundings. The Meadows are host to a wide variety of Flora and Fauna some of which we were able to identify and record. First on the list was a ‘stick’ identification task courtesy of Bonnie. It turns out you can have a big stick and a small stick which later were used to reenact the traditional Pooh sticks game from a bridge over the River Colne. At first glance the green long-grass meadow seemed bland but looking further there were at least 6 varieties of grass waving in the breeze. Looking deeper into the meadow thicket there was an explosion of colour from Bulbous Buttercups to joyous Oxeye Daisy with a carpet of Field Scabious, Cornflower and Corncockle. The hedgerows were awash with flowering Dog Rose. What a treat! Along our route we had been carefully looking out for Bumblebees. With all the meadow flowering still in bloom thankfully we saw many, mostly White-tails. Helen had brought her bee identification booklet helping us to decide which of Britain’s 24 Bumblebee species we were looking at. Standing on a footbridge over the river we all watched the intricate dancing Damselflies and Dragonflies. The electric blue flashes making our eyes flit side to side. At halfway we stopped to record a tree for the ‘Treezilla’ project. With the aid of a smartphone we were able to detail a chosen tree’s species and type, height, trunk girth, crown diameter and general health condition. We chose a Common Lime with its wonderful delicate yellow flowers. With recordings taken we set off down the farmers track and were treated to lovely birdsong. Using a bird identification app Helen and Anna were able to identify Skylark, Greater Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap amongst many others. Frazer and Bonnie completed the wild walk with a game of Pooh sticks, I wonder who won?

Strike a pose! Colchester Pride is still going as the Goodgym Colchester squad take a little break. So far we have seen a mix of stalls from Essex Wildlife Trust and vegan food to the Green Party joining the fun but the main attraction is the people. Such a lovely, diverse and family event with poets, drag acts, bands and solo artists giving their all to entertain.

Big shout out to Libby, Jenna and Dan for organising the event and setting the goodgymers up to direct traffic and litter pick. The in term for litter picking and jogging is 'plogging' but we were dancing and litter picking so perhaps a new phrase needs inventing...jigging? Hmmm sure you can do better!

We are going to help with the tidy up at 5pm and then off to the next of our double task bank holiday Saturday.

Colchester really showed its true colours today and it was a rainbow...also lovely to see charities like Outhouse East and hear that Colchester Pride has charity status too this year as well as Colchester Black Lives Matter in Colchester.

What a lovely morning in the lush green Essex Countryside. Fingringhoe Wick is such a unique gem of a habitat. Nestled between the Colne Estuary, the salt marshes of the Strood and Mersea Island is a patch of woodland and wetland that is home to all sorts of wildlife.

Our task was to stain five picnic benches with varnish and in true goodgym style we were done in no time at all. Rachael was certainly self-appointed quality control, with a great eye for detail whilst we all gave the benches a new lease of life...the before and after photos show the difference.

A big thank you to Rosie and Roy from Essex Wildlife Trust and to the local pheasant, cuckoo and rabbits! We will be back next week and there are still a few places left.