Dominic, Clara, Peter, Sol , Kacey and Sheila gathered at Ockwell's Park for our first tree-planting season of the season. After arming ourselves with spades, we met up with Ranger Tom and set off for the planting site. The ground was extrememy wet and boggy, so we had to tread carefully. Once we got to the site, Tom explained what needed doing - the whips were heeled into the ground waiting for us, and our task was to plant them around the inside perimeter of the fence, securing guards round them supported by canes. . There were several different species to plant - hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, dog rose and dogwood. Tom left us to it, to go to his next task. No sooner had we set to work, and I had just commented that we were lucky tht the rain had stopped, when the heavens opened and we all got a good soaking. Luckily we were all dressed, to be prepared for the rain. The weather soon dried up, though. Planting was easy as the ground was so soft, and we completed planting along one side of the square, and started on the next. By the end of the session we had planted about 150 whips, used all of the tree guards, and re-purposed some old ones. We also cleared some of the existing tree guards of grass which had grown up the inside, and was competing with the trees. It was great to see so many of the trees planted in previous years, thriving. As we made our way back, Sol commented what a good tree-planting day it had been, and I think we all agreed! Looking forward to an equally successful second session tomorrow

Congratulations to the tree-mendous group of GoodGymers who came to Ockwells to plant trees this morning. The weather forecast was grim, but that didn't deter us. In fact, we even had a few newcomers sign up at the last minute: tree cheers and a wet and muddy welcome for Jo, Peter and Clara!

This was our 5th tree-planting session at Ockwells this season, so many of the group already knew the drill - gather up the spades, mallets and tree guards, squelch squerch through the mud to the planting site (the 'motorway gap' today rather than New Thrift Wood site inside the deer fence), locate the heeled in whips and supportive stakes, and get planting!

Thanks to Georgeta for her expert demonstration of how to give these little tree babies the best possible start without things getting too thorny.

As always we settled into a happy rhythm, digging, chatting, planting and staking. Today's species included hawthorn, field maple, hazel, alder, and buckthorn, a native mix selected to provide a 'soft but prickly' woodland edge, extending the existing woodland towards the path.

As I called 5 minutes to go, Kevin raised the stakes - he noticed we didn't have many left and challenged us to use them all up before heading back. Game on! 10 pairs of hands made light work of another 25 trees, and we even had time for a group photo. At this moment the heavens really opened. We tried our best to look miserable in the photo, but the truth is we had a tree-rific time.

160 trees planted today takes GoodGym to a grand total of 735 so far this year. I wonder if we can make it to 1000!? You can sign up to join us on another session by clicking here. As well as tree planting we have fence painting, fridge cleaning, waterways weeding, donation sorting and parkrun marshalling all planned for this month, and more listings still to come. Happy New Year!

9 GoodGymers met in the car park of Ockwells Park to plant a mix of baby Oaks, Beeches and Hornbeams as part of the long term project to create the New Thrift Wood.

We were a mixed bunch too - of experienced do gooders, relative newcomers Kacey & Lisa, commuters Ruth (GoodGym Slough) and Kevin all the way from Fleet with his trusty four-legged friend, Fearne. Together we set out with spades to the New Thrift Wood site. Through wet and boggy 1.5 kms, we reached the site with Amy trying to recruit anyone who was curious about who we were!

Sheila and Georgeta gave the runners a very professional demonstration of how to clear the area, dig with the spade, plant the saplings and add the supporting sticks and protective coils. Everyone got to work and a grand total of 169 little saplings were planted across the group. 

There's plenty more to be done but it was a morning well spent. We have upcoming sessions on the 3rd, 8th and 15th of January. Check out the listings and sign up!

A festive welcome

On a chilly but bright December morning, we met in Ockwells Park car park. It was great to see Sara and Laura again and we were delighted to welcome 6 new faces - Kacey, Nicola, Shabina, Jenny, Esther and Sonia. Extra kudos to all of you for not rapidly re-tree-ting home on meeting Area Activator Amy for the first time, who was decked out like a Christmas tree and covered in mud having been for a pre-task run as part of this month's #Magpies150Challenge (read all about that and join the fun here!)

Tree planting not face planting

The group headed off into the beautiful nature reserve, and amazingly made it to the planting site without any face-planting on the very muddy paths. There we met our ex-tree-mely knowledgeable hosts for the session: Jason Mills, who is the Coutryside Manager for RBWM, Alistair Will from Groundwork South, and wildlife conservationist Martin Woolner.

A tree-mendous vision

Jason explained that the planting site was between two areas of ancient woodland - Thrift Wood, which is accessible to walkers from Ockwells Park, and another area privately owned by the neighbouring turf farm. The grand plan is to fill in the gap between the two, creating a corridor of wonderful biodiversity-boosting, oxygen-giving, carbon-absorbing woodland to benefit generations to come. The acorn harvesting and planting GoodGym did with Alistair earlier in the year was part of the same project.

Creating a woodland is by no means quick or easy. The trees planted last Winter did not thrive due to the incredibly dry Spring this year, and we know that it will take decades if not centuries for the new wood to resemble the older areas, but it was great to hear from Jason that the benefit to wildlife will be felt far sooner. As soon as the saplings grow leaves in the Spring they will provide food and shelter to creatures like caterpillars, butterflies and moths, which will have positive ripple effects.

Our job today was two-fold: planting trees, and 'heeling in' bundles of trees to keep their roots moist for planting out over the rest of the season. We were working with a variety of species including hazel, elder, willow, dogwood, spindle, hawthorn, and blackthorn.

Well-heeled

Jenny, Amy and Laura tackled the heeling in, which involved digging trenches where handfuls of dormant saplings were then 'tucked in to bed' - their delicate roots carefully covered in soil to keep them from drying out, and their wispy trunks set at an angle to protect them from the elements. The digging warmed us up, and we look forward to returning to settle these babies in their permanent homes over the coming weeks.

Budding conservationists

The rest of the team were on tree planting duty, joined also by Laura, who branched out after a spell in the trenches. Efforts were focussed on planting thornier species towards the edges of the site, which will grow up to be a natural protective barrier along the edge of the wood, like we can see now surrounding Thrift Wood. Everyone seemed to find the task very enjoyable. As Amy came round to take photos there were big smiles, jubilant reports of how many trees had been planted, and expert demonstrations of how to curl a protective barrier around the tree to keep the rabbits off. Be-leaf it or not, we planted approximately 140 trees today - go team!

Too much fun to leaf...

During the session the sun shone, feet and gloves became increasingly caked in mud, and it felt like no time at all before it was time to make like a tree and....leaf. A huge thank you to Alistair, Jason and Martin for welcoming us and sharing your knowledge.

Many of us left wanting more, so the good news is that there are at least another 860 trees to plant! We have further community missions here planned for the next two Thursdays. You can sign up for 10am on the 10th here or 10am on the 17th here.

We also have lots of other great activities planned for the coming weeks, and you can check out the full listings here.

Hope to see some of you there!