We seem to have the knack of scheduling digging tasks during cold snaps lately, so this week we were exchanging regular messages with Helen from the Oxford Urban Wildlife Group to see if we could go ahead with our Saturday morning task. Luckily the ground hadn't frozen too hard by Saturday morning, so off to the nature park we went. It looked magical in the nature park in the frosty, freezing fog. Almost pretty enough for us to forget the cold!

Our task was to dig out bramble roots in a couple of patches of land that are destined to be grassland. The brambles take over fast in the spring, smothering other plants and massively reducing biodiversity, so digging out their roots in the winter helps stop that happening. Bramble roots are often huge - you'd easily mistake some for tree roots - so it's not always an easy task, but it is satisfying. The wildlife group had got 2 new Lazy Dogs for our session (sadly not snoozy canine companions, but a tool designed to dig out roots) so we were well equipped this month. A couple of muddy hours later we'd cleared several wheelbarrow loads of roots and had kept active enough that most of us could still feel our fingers and toes!

Welcome to GoodGym Louise.