Karin and I headed back to the River Rea walkway through Stirchley after a few weeks concentrating on other tasks and at first it seemed like there wasn't much rubbish to collect – perhaps Birmingham Litter Hero Mike had got here before us? But as we persevered we found lots of sweet wrappers, face masks and what might be the last ice lolly package of the season (who knew Solero Shots still existed?!).

Along the way we saw plenty of B30's wildlife: ducks, herons and coots on just one small section of the river, plus a dog (or at least its nose) attempting to escape from its garden by burrowing under the fence.

As we got closer to the canal we hit buried treasure: dozens of cans hidden in the bushes. It was getting dark and the rubbish bags weren't getting any lighter but we dredged up our can-do attitude to grab as many as we could.

We're planning to return to the canal next Monday – sign up and get your hi-vis out!