In years gone by, missions to tackle Himalayan Balsam in the areas close to the river were many and not-far-between, with extra midweek sessions not a rarity. That Saturday’s task was our first (and possibly last?) of the Summer hopefully speaks to the efforts of many over the years to bring this invasive species under control, which are perhaps paying off. But it is a (little) shame because it’s always so much fun.

Himalayan Balsam, we learned from Friends of Ham Lands leader Sharon, escaped from Kew Gardens, whence it had been brought from afar (the Himalayas?) many years ago (19th century?). It quickly colonised large parts of the local area - as well as spreading all over the country - compromising the growth of important other flora and damaging soil structures on the river banks.

So on this beautifully sunny Saturday morning, 5 of Richmond GG’s finest met with Sharon and headed to an area close to the towpath on the river side of the Ham Lands to deal with a couple of patches of Balsam.

The fun part is in the ease of the job: despite their apparent size and sturdiness, Balsam plants are easy to uproot, having shallow roots as they do - and their wide hollow stems create a satisfying pop sound when pulled from the ground. So satisfying it makes you want not want to stop.

Stop we eventually did, however, as plans for the rest of the day (and a build-up of nettle stings) eventually required us to. We stood back and admired the result of our efforts - large clear sections and large piles of uprooted Balsam. And then off we popped.

Next time at Ham Lands is on Saturday 8th August. You can sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-b8f34de0-18b2-4779-8129-bff4f391fa5a

A bonus mission for Richmond GoodGym took place on Sunday morning, as the Friends of St Margarets Station welcomed 7 GGers to help in their ongoing work to improve the appearance of the station.

2 years ago we had installed 2 planters on the London-bound platform, which were still looking good even if their plant content was struggling in the hot weather.

We met at the station entrance and all donned fetching pink construction worker tabards. We then worked as a team to move the wooden blocks from Platform 3 over to the site where a new planter was to be built. Most of the group then got going on construction, hammering pegs into the blocks and stacking them according to the instruction booklet.

Meanwhile task leader Maddie was filling watering cans for Sabina and JP to carry over to Platform 3 to water the banked flower bed. We then had a discussion on the feasibility of installing planters on that side, where the platform is narrower and sloped in places. No clear way forward there, unfortunately.

The new planter neared completion. After the final course of regular wooden blocks was in place, we measured out and cut the waterproof liner and pegged it into place, before adding the coping blocks and all climbing inside to celebrate with photos!

We were back for our regular task at the Three Pigeons plot. We got stuck in by cutting back some overgrown plants, giving the plot a much needed tidy up. We also spent some time watering the plants to try to help everything stay healthy with the upcoming hot weather!

It was especially nice to welcome Rhiannon to her first food gym task!

Afterwards, we took a trip to Tide Tables for a well earned coffee.

Thanks everyone for coming along to help out!

After a few days of sunshine during the week it was cooler and overcast on the Ham Lands Saturday morning as 4 of GG Richmond's finest gathered for our monthly habitat preservation work.

This month, we were tasked with tackling an area of brambles. We did this with loppers and rakes, occasionally yelping when attacked by one of the thorny tendrils.

The job was going well and we built up a few large piles of the brambles we had removed, before realising that we did not have the large canvas sacks with us to transport the brambles away from the clearing to the undergrowth.

We overcame the issue with a series of trips carrying brambles by garden fork, rake or in armfuls and soon got the job done.

Time for a quick cup of tea and group photo and we were off to enjoy our weekends!