Newbury and Thatcham Green Gym
Monday, 21st July 2014
Nature Discovery Centre, Thatcham ~ Path clearance and Himalayan balsam pulling

Volunteers with Newbury & Thatcham Green Gym assemble for a morning of clearing paths at Thatcham's Nature Discovery Centre.

Soon everyone was getting down to the business of cutting back a summer's growth.

Any Himalayan balsam which was sufficiently misguided as to make the volunteers aware of its presence, was also removed.

You're never to young to start!

The satisfied expression of a volunteer who has just discovered more balsam.

Always a sensible precaution to warn the public when there is an army of volunteers on the loose.

Some however take no heed of warnings and insist on joining in!

Coffee time .....

..... a few moments to relax and chat.

Then it's back to work.

Then just as everyone is getting into the swing of things and starting to enjoy themselves .....

..... it's time to stop. Our thanks to everybody who joined us, Tim, Toby and the children, Anita, Helena, Glyn, Ann, Dorothy, Judith and Denise. Thanks also to Cathy and Oonagh who came along from the The Conservation Volunteers to provide additional training and who kindly supplied the coffee and biscuits.

Apart from all the vegetation, we also got to see some other wildlife along the way .....

Moorhen and black-headed gull.

Egyptian Goose

And just as the temperatures get into the mid to high twenties and you begin to think summer may finally have arrived, along come some Earthballs (an inedible - some think poisonous - fungi) to remind us that autumn is on its way!

Created: Saturday, 26th July 2014
Photographs: Cathy Holwill