It was a lovely evening in the oasis that is Acomb Wood and we enjoyed a long warm up to really get the arms good and ready for all the sawing and lopping. Whilst we warmed up, we talked a lot about the dangers of tree felling! We also welcomed along new runner, James - make sure you go and give him a cheer!

As soon as Beki was on the scene, the coppicing began. Trimming down the hazel and getting rid of some other bits and bobs too. It wasn't long before I found Max in amongst the most overgrown area of woodland. He'd become distracted from the art of coppicing but was hacking away excitedly.

I'm making a path!!

I left him to it since we were making very good progress anyway. Every time someone felled a tree, Christine popped up with her loppers and started the clean up operation; chopping the tree into little bits to make habitat piles.

After all the lumberjacking, we played 'how many GG Yorkies can you fit in the den' and we huddled in a sort of teepee made with some of the cut down branches. The answer, of course, was 'all of them!'

With the tools safety stashed away, all that was left was to celebrate our good deed with a fitness session which involved zig zag sprints between trees and a few exercises including:

• squats
• lunge and stretch
• jumping squats
• side lunges
• walking lunges

Our next starter session is on Tuesday the 3rd where we'll be building the footpath at Heworth Holme. You can get the details and sign up here.