Sal and I had our own personal Picnic as we waited and waited for the organisers to show. In there absence we enjoyed our own picnic with home made Scones.

I recommend taking 5 minutes out of your day to catch up with friends old and new. (Picnic Option, Scones essential)

A merry Twixmas task on the 5th day of Christmas, on Petersham Common to continue traditional hedgerow laying, a task we started earlier in December and are back to complete in January. This traditional method of hedgerow habitat creation involves lot of manual work: clearing the working area, pleaching the young trees, knocking in posts and weaving in wood to create the top part.

Above all of that though, the group gathered to celebrate Beth reaching 100 tasks. In only eleven months since joining too. Sal brought along her wonderful homemade brownies and a new set of wings for Beth to wear, Jp and Liz sorted the group card, Ken boiled up fresh coffee on his storm kettle (with a little cheeky Bailey's to add after the task) and the whole team brought the warm hugs and appreciation.

A massive congratulations and thank you for everything you do for the people we help in Richmond, and for GoodGym Richmond itself too. In Beth's own lovely words:

"I love GoodGym, I talk about it all the time... it's just exactly what I was looking for when I moved to the area."

Luckily the lady from Thames Landscape Strategy was there to Guide us from Marble House to Richmond via the Thames Path.

The weather was nice, we got to smell the fresh water, feel leaves and taste the local drinking establishments.

A lovely group exercise meeting our friends and new people.

That was the question on everyone's mind as they lined up on Richmond riverside, waiting to be assigned a specific bat to count. Soprano, common, nathusius pipistrelle, plus daubentons, noctule and a few other species. We set out bat detectors to their corresponding frequency and lined up on both sides of the river for the final count of the year.

After a slow start the Twickenham side crew found a hotspot at the far side of Marble Hill Park. The walk ended near the White Swan pub after we made about 20 stops every couple of hundred metres. We then marched all the way back to Richmond and convened at the White Cross where Ken very generously got two rounds in.