Scything is always a GoodGym favourite, and we had the perfect heatwave task this Wednesday of scything nettles in the shade of the woods at Aston's Eyot.

There are lots of muntjac deer who call Aston's Eyot home, and they eat their way through absolutely everything, leaving much reduced biodiversity. To try and counter this the Friends of Aston's Eyot are creating fenced areas throughout the nature reserve which the deer can't break into. In those areas the flora and fauna will have a chance to recover, increasing the variety of plant life, and providing food for a wider range of bugs and beasties. The next area to be fenced is within the woodland, but the nettles needed clearing before the Friends of Aston's Eyot could decide the exact outline of the protected area. Always happy to oblige, we scythed and raked away for an hour clearing a woodland glade ready for fencing.

Breakaway teams lopped low-hanging branches of some trees overhanging a pathway, pulled creeping thistle (prickly!), and re-scythed the young nettles starting to pop back up where we chopped them back earlier this year.

Welcome to GoodGym Maria!