As part of London Climate Action Week 2026, GoodGym Ealing hosted three wildlife survey sessions in three of the Tiny Forests across the Ealing borough that GoodGymers had helped plant within the last couple of years. Earthwatch Europe, the organisation behind this fantastic project, helped promote our events designed to connect local people with these small, densely planted native forests that support biodiversity while strengthening relationships between people and nature in urban settings.

From the perspective of raising awareness about the Tiny Forest hidden in the heart of Hanwell, the session at Cuckoo Park was a success. Alongside five GoodGymers, Steph Ducat, Sevan, Kash, A.B. and Penny, two local residents and nature enthusiasts, joined the fun.

Noah and Faye, who live nearby, had no idea the Cuckoo Park Tiny Forest even existed and were excited to discover it. They joined the wildlife survey, helping GoodGymers count butterflies, pollinators and ground dwellers such as ants, snails and earthworms. They were also keen to learn more about the project and expressed an interest in helping maintain their local Tiny Forest and spreading the word within the local community - potential future Tree Keepers in the making!

After the survey, the new Tree Keepers got stuck into some maintenance work, removing weeds and tall grasses that could suppress the growth of the smaller trees. Flowering plants were left untouched to continue attracting pollinators.

The Cuckoo Park Tiny Forest looked dramatically different from our previous visit. Tall grasses and thistles had sprung up throughout the site and, somewhat unexpectedly, so had several clusters of cereals! The forest was buzzing with life, and during the survey, we discovered that insects weren't the only creatures calling it home. While searching beneath a slab for ground dwellers, we uncovered a tiny mouse which stole the spotlight from the butterflies.

If that sounds like your kind of evening, we're hosting one more wildlife survey session during London Climate Action Week, this time combined with an optional run. Join us at the Hanger Hill Tiny Forest and help us discover what wildlife is hiding there!

Cliff, the chief gardener at St Mary’s in South Ealing, told us that the cemetery behind the church was meant to be a pollinator-friendly wildflower space, and not an ostensively manicured garden. Yet, after the spring was in full bloom, the back of the churchyard started getting out of control: nettles, green alkanet and other weeds took over the graves, and even Cliff’s superhuman gardening capability wasn’t enough to keep on top of that expansion. That’s where the GoodGymers stepped in.

Sevan led a group of ten nettleslayers, hungry for an evening pull session in a local jungle. Among them were two new faces in GoodGym Ealing: Giovanni, who cycled to his very first task, and Diana, who, despite being active for a few months as an Achilles guide runner, hadn’t completed an Ealing session until today. She also brought a four-legged support, the pooch Padron (pardon me if I misspelt the name), who made all the hearts instantly melt. Welcome Giovanni and Diana - we hope you’ve enjoyed our collective weeding frenzy!

Steph Ducat, Giovanni, Andy and Cliff attacked the left-hand side of the overgrown churchyard back wall, while Anna, Kash, and Harvey started from the right. Sevan, Diana, A.B., and James worked in the middle and eventually met the other two teams, having pulled or cut all the weeds on their way. In an hour, the stretch of graves along the entire brick wall at the back was weed-free!

Every GoodGym session is an opportunity to learn something new. Harvey told us about soldiers who used to whip their arms with stinging nettles to stay awake during their night watches. Since I wore a short-sleeved top while pulling nettles today anyway, I decided to test that method. I am pleased to report that the nettle stings still work, and I haven’t fallen asleep writing this report on Tuesday night.

As the days are now so long that it is still bright outside when we complete an evening task, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of it and come to the Tuesday night session. The weather has been a sheer delight, too! The next opportunity for an evening experience with GoodGym is next week - don’t miss it and sign up now!

After giving our arms a solid workout gardening at HANGOT, a number of GoodGymers decided it was only right to give our legs some exercise too with a post-task social at the Hanwell Hootie.

First stop was Momentum Coffee, where we refuelled before crossing the road to Hanwell Clock Tower to catch some of the afternoon’s buskers. The line-up did not disappoint, featuring a solo singer-songwriter and one of Hanwell’s finest musical institutions... the 40-piece Hanwell Ukulele Group (HUG).

From there, the group split off to explore the many artists performing across Hanwell’s pubs and outdoor venues… but somehow, all roads led back to the main stage at the viaduct meadow.

A number of GoodGymers had volunteered to help with the Hootie set-up and pack-down, and were kindly rewarded by the Hootie team with festival t-shirts and queue-skipping wristbands - a very welcome perk given the popularity of this brilliant volunteer-run free music festival!

Perhaps the best part of the afternoon was bumping into GoodGymers all over Hanwell. A wonderful reminder of the fabulous community spirit of the Hootie and GoodGym!