Jen and I met at Eton Wick Village Hall and made our way across the fields to meet Claire at The Swan Life centre, Googlemaps or (Jen) wanted to make sure I got my 10,000 steps in today and took us off on a route across the fields and under the viaduct and kept going (turn right here) until we got to where we needed to be. We met up with Claire who informed us that the other person helping out had to go so the three of us set off armed with a trolley of relevant tools and litter pickers along the slightly muddy public bridleway. We started with a bout of litter picking and then got to the section with all the brambles and overhanging branches that are a nuisance to path users, ie: cyclists and horse riders. Loppers and shears in hand we made short work of the trees and brambles and it was nice that we were thanked by a couple of walkers along the route. The last section we went back to a bit of litter picking and came a cross a cat box..or was it a lawnmower part, we really couldn't solve the mystery and Jen found herself a new pair of Joggers. Trolley loaded up we said our goodbyes to Claire who was ever grateful for our help and made our way back across the fields thankfully on a more direct route.

Wild Eton Wick asked for our help help, so Garry, Sheila, first-timer Maggie, and Shelley visiting from GoodGym Slough, met with taskowners Claire and Andrew at Cooleys Meadow. We trundled the equipment across the meadow, and Claire gave us an introduction to the area. A small copse of trees has been planted up, and a bank is being created which will be a haven for butterflies. It is hoped to especially encourage the marbled white butterfly. While we left Andrew to strim around the young saplings, the rest of us set off to dig up some buddleia plants from a nearby field. These are unwanted by the farmer, so they are to be relocated to the butterfly bank. Although the plants didn't look that large, they had an extensive root system, established over many years. We employed spades, forks, saws and pure brute force and determination to dig and hack our way through to free the bushes. We ended up with 4 good-sized plants which we took back to the butterfly bank, and were joined by Amy on the way. There, we planted the bushes on the top of the bank, luckily a much easier task than digging them up had been. Hopefully they will now live up to their common name of the Butterfly bush, attracting butterflies and other insects to feed on it's nectar. While Shelley dispersed some seed bombs containing butterfly-friendly plants on the bank, the others planted some fresh tree whips to replace those which had succumbed to last year's drought. A very satisfying morning's work, and Claire was grateful for our help, as ever As Shelley succinctly put it: 'digging, relocating buddleia, planting baby trees & sowing wildlife seeds. Fun!'

Round two of the weekend of plastic-blitzing the Thames and it's tributaries. This time Peter, Clara, Sol, Sara and Kanika joined Claire and Julian from Wild Eton Wick to continue the task from Saturday.

We began with a lesson in water testing and identifying tiny creatures in a small sample from a tributary of the Thames. Claire, the fountain of interesting information, turned six adults into little squealing children trying to pick out the little critters in the water!

Then we set off on the "litter pick with a twist". We split into teams to pick litter along the river, but not just bag it. We had to carefully identify and record each piece of trash on a double-sided sheet full of categories in tiny font. Never have we ever spent so long looking closely at garbage and getting to the bottom of it's inception! Slow but important work as it helps identify and plan for the types of interventions required in the area.

It felt like slow going but Claire was happy, so we were too. As always, we came away with new knowledge and experience from a task with Wild Eton Wick.

Nicola, Sophie and Clara met with Claire and Andrew from Wild Eton Wick, on the Thames Path. The task was to collect litter but to record items as we go, which will be used as part of a wider survey and campaign to reduce litter.

Claire equipped us with litter pickers, gloves, head torches and clipboards. There was even a sharps box if we found any syringes, for example.

We collected 4 large bags of litter across 1.5 hours. Most obscure items included welly boots, a pair of glasses, a towel and a bag of bbq charcoal.

There will be more to come on Sunday as part of national rivers week.

Georgeta, Kanika and Sheila cycled along the Jubilee River to join Clara, Peter, Julian and Jen at St John's church in Eton Wick, where we met with taskowner Claire from Wild Eton Wick. Claire had two tasks for us today. We started off by searching for any bat activity inside the church. We knew from previous surveys that bats fly around the churchyard. But could we find any evidence of bats roosting? We were looking for droppings, insect wings , urine stains or even bats themselves. We spread out throughout the church, armed with torches, and were given permission to have a good rummage in all the nooks and crannies we could find. We found plenty of dead insects and cobwebs, and Jen even found a mouse (of the toy variety), but we couldn't find any direct evidence of bats. Disappointingly we didn't have the key to go up the bell turret and steeple, as we felt this may have been our best chance of finding evidence of bats We then moved outside to enjoy the sunshine and see whether we could see any butterflies in the churchyard. Whilst on butterfly watch some of us had a bit of a contemplate about the stories that may lie behind the gravestones, a very peaceful place. A few butterflies were spotted - some of them whizzed by very quickly, but Georgeta managed to get a picture of a common blue. In all, 9 butterflies were recorded - other species seen were a meadow brown, a gatekeeper, and a holly blue. We were all agreed that the churchyard could be improved to make it more attractive to butterflies and perhaps that will be an eventual outcome from this survey! We made the most of the weather and all took the scenic route home again. Thanks to Claire for hosting us, and we look forward to helping out again soon.

As part of the National Bat Monitoring Program, Wild Windsor wanted to survey the bat activity in the Trinity Wildlife Area, and asked for volunteers. GoodGym members flocked to help out, and an impressive 9 members turned out on a lovely mild evening. Amy, Georgeta and Sheila cycled the 12km or so to join Sara, Jen, Isabel, Nic, Rachel and Anita. We met with taskowner Claire, who is the local bat expert, and was running the survey for the evening. We started with a bit of a workout, clearing the path of weeds whilst it was still light. As dusk began to fall, we turned our attention to the bats. We got into pairs, each with a monitor which displayed the frequency of any bat signals, which indicates the species present. We spread out in the wildlife area, and into the nearby park, and recorded any signals obtained. There was plenty of pipistrelle bat activity recorded, especially in the Wildlife area, as the bats were out and about to catch their breakfast. After 45 mins or so, the activity dropped dramatically, presumably with the bats taking a well-deserved post-prandial snooze. It was a fascinating evening, and it was great to see how much bat activity there was. Thank you to Claire for leading the evening and imparting so much of her knowledge to us. We look forward to helping out again in the future