With light evenings comes the return of tasks in Oxford's green spaces, and one of our favourites is Aston's Eyot. Tucked between the Iffley Road and the river, the Eyot was a rubbish dump in the 19th Century, but it's now a thriving nature reserve managed by the Friends of Aston's Eyot.

Wednesday's task was nettle removal. Scything and pulling the nettles allows light to get through for wild flowers, and removing them reduces the richness of the soil, which wild flowers prefer. This should all help increase the biodiversity of the area. Scything is always a fan favourite at GoodGym, so there were plenty of volunteers for that task. Henry very competently assembled the new scythe, and Axelle did great work pruning back an elder tree which was getting a little thuggish. Some of the GoodGymers were lucky enough to spot 2 muntjac deer on the way home - it's always surprising and delightful how much nature can thrive yards from busy city streets.

Great work team!

Welcome to GoodGym Emma and Ines.

This week we made our second trip to Bayards Hill Primary School to help with the progress of their garden. The aim is to have a functioning garden so that the children can learn about the life cycle of plants and understand how food is grown. Armed with various tools and with one eye on some VERY threatening clouds we set to work weeding a huge pile of soil, rescuing some tulips in the raised beds, amassing a petting zoo of snails and assorted other bugs, redistributing some daffodil bulbs ready for next spring and topping up some planters with de-weeded soil. Many hands made quick work and we thankfully finished just as the rain started, it was a soggy run back to base though!