A scorcher of an afternoon for this midweek gardening task alongside Thames Landscape Strategy. Either side of the river towpath in Ham, an interesting and invasive plant Himalayan Balsam was taking over the soil from native plants. It has alien-like bright red roots which must bind only weakly into the ground as it's really easy to pull out.

There were a lot of nettles growing near and even around the balsam, but it was far too hot for trousers, so I had to tread carefully. Of course I did not and got stung repeatedly.

A few others had joined the task including familiar face Sharon from the Friends of Ham Lands, the chair of an umbrella Ham community group and some people from the Landscape Strategy's Eventbrite listing.

I learned so much about bats and their habitat along the Thames. Thank you for a really interesting evening with a friendly bunch of fellow bat-recorders.

The three of us has a good Brainstorming session to understand how the assisted walks can continue.

As we sat by the Witches cauldron (I mean a Cactus) we had the key ingredients: - Enthusiasm - Funding Applications - Ideas for the Future

With a stirring, Researching, time and Magic, the Assisted walks will continue

That was the question on everyone's mind as they lined up on Richmond riverside, waiting to be assigned a specific bat to count. Soprano, common, nathusius pipistrelle, plus daubentons, noctule and a few other species. We set out bat detectors to their corresponding frequency and lined up on both sides of the river for the final count of the year.

After a slow start the Twickenham side crew found a hotspot at the far side of Marble Hill Park. The walk ended near the White Swan pub after we made about 20 stops every couple of hundred metres. We then marched all the way back to Richmond and convened at the White Cross where Ken very generously got two rounds in.

Luckily the lady from Thames Landscape Strategy was there to Guide us from Marble House to Richmond via the Thames Path.

The weather was nice, we got to smell the fresh water, feel leaves and taste the local drinking establishments.

A lovely group exercise meeting our friends and new people.

Six GoodGymers went on a bar survey! Did you know that t and r are side by side on the key board? This time though, it was a bat survey, not a bar survey!

We met Ken and Philip with the London Bat Group who guided us on our survey along the River Thames counting bat passes with our bat monitors tuned into various frequencies. The bat monitors amplified the echolocation calls of the bats into the audible range of human hearing. We counted several 100 bats in the night with all the data recorded for a scientific study that Ken started in 2008 with the UK Bat Conservation Trust. And luckily half of the group finished the bat survey along the Thames at a pub to conduct a bar survey!