On a warm and muggy evening on Petersham Common as eight cheery Goodgymers gathered to enjoy the evening with a spot of coppicing.

We met with our good friend Ken of the Petersham Common Conservators, who walked us down to the bottom of the hill from the car park and gave us a briefing.

The task at hand was to cut back some saplings to encourage them to grow back more densely, to allow the local wildlife and birds to benefit from the habitat. We were armed with mini saws and set to work, cutting down all the small trees in an area by the path, leaving just a few taller ones to make sure the birds still had a place to land.

This is coppicing, definitely not tree felling, as Ken was keen to point out. He oversaw our work, making sure we picked the right trees to cut down and instructing us on where and how to stack the saplings to create a habitat for insects and small animals.

We made amazing progress in a short time, with Maena taking the prize for carrying the tallest tree over to the pile. We all enjoyed the task immensely and felt very satisfied with a job well done.

Big welcome to Chris B, meeting many of us for the first time on his 3rd mission with Goodgym. Looking forward to the next one!