A sunny bank holiday Monday is an extra bonus reason to get out and do some good! Today's 'anywhere' litter pick was just the task.

A group arranged to meet at Old Deer Park to pick together (let Liz know if you would like to be added to the group to keep up to date!).

Beth battled an Easter hangover to pick up other people's mess. Steph got up early to clear up evidence in the street of the night before. Anita cleared up around Manor Road and reported fly-tipping to the council too. Amy was surprised to find Twickenham Green quite clean. Liz and her son tackled the local park and filled four disgusting bags.

Back to normal group runs next Monday, finally back on British Summer Time! ☀️

6 GoodGymers mulched 15 trees in London Fields.

Some proper Wheelbarrow fitness needed tonight!! With the gigantic mulch pile 600 metres away from the mulch needy trees we had a big job pushing the barrows!

Loading up the barrows to the brim before pushing they across the park, even adding a little off roading to increase the difficulty!

Using the tree knowledge to perfectly bed in the baby trees to keep the nutrients, moisture in while any frost away.

Top team work in just over an hour of steptastic action completed a really good task!

7 GoodGymers helped sort and give a truck load if essentials to Westminster's homeless community.

Great to be helping Get Rid Of And Donate in 2024 and their amazing work with the Capitals vulnerable communities. After meeting at Green Park, 4 if the group ran 2k to make our way over to Charing Cross and meet the rest of the crew.

Andrea was there and we got cracking! Setting out all the big warm clothing, bedding, shoes and coats ready for those that need to take. Off the back of the van bags, sleeping bags, ground mats and sleeping bag insulation was given out.

A hectic but impactful for so many task to really help those in need of a little help as we move through the Winter weather.

60 minutes and the donations were taken to new owners before we ran off into the night with a task complete.

This weekend we flocked to our local parks, gardens and the riverside to take part in the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch. Across the country the nature charity has already had nearly 5 million sightings, including 672,736 house sparrows and 553,744 blue tits topping the charts. Results can be submitted to the RSPB until February 18th so there's plenty of time to log yours.

Here is a summary of what GoodGymmers in Richmond, Kingston and beyond saw on their watch.

Marie Noelle and Jade - What a great way to spend an hour on such a lovely morning. Sadly no birds have landed yet here but that might be down to the sleeping fox!

Lily - Quite a few sparrows in my garden, living in beech trees. Counted six but there were more hiding further in.

Ken - Sky (my youngest daughter) and I went to the White Cross Pub to do the RSPB Bird Watch. We counted 188 birds! (It is a really good spot!). We had 51 Black headed gulls, 36 rock doves (AKA pigeons!), 21 herring gulls, 16 mallards, 12 Canada Geese, and then handfuls of others (Mandarin ducks, moorhen, mute swans, heron, parakeets, and cross between a domestic duck mallard duck). Eleven different species in total.

Charlotte - I was in Richmond Park where I could hear and see a lot of birds. Particularly crows and parakeets.

Rachel - None of the birds stayed long enough for me to take a photo but I saw 4 blue tits, 1 sparrow, 1 robin, 1 thrush, 2 pigeons and 2 jackdaw.

Jassy - Just one robin holding the fort.

Adam, Rosie, Sam, Africa, Chris, Jp and Teresa made it back-to-back GG sessions after a morning leaf clearing task. We walked over to Moormead Park and took a pew on a perfectly circular bench for 360° views. But even with the guide sheets that eager beaver Rosie had printed off, identifying the different species on a bright yet wintry morning proved challenging for us novice twitchers. Still, we counted gold-, green- and chaffinch, a pair of blackbirds, magpies and plenty of woodpigeon.

Teresa - I was very excited to spot every bird that landed and eagerly called over Sam with his binoculars to inspect and identify the right bird. A very enjoyable morning with a spot of sunshine and the birds.

Thanks to Claire for sending pics and summaries from your GG Kingston friends.