Litter Picking

3rd January 2026

Woodland Edges along The Ways

After all the festive fun, what a pleasure it was to get back to the woodlands helping make a difference.  The day was dry, with temperatures just a little below zero, but with the sun shining brightly, it was the perfect day for pottering about on the woodland edges collecting litter. 

Although this is a busy location to conduct our pick, what a pleasure it was to set off from beside Oxleas Pond.  It looked absolutely stunning with a layer of ice covering the surface, bright green grass re-establishing itself all around the edges, one large hibernaculum disappearing beneath fresh vegetation and some of our recently planted pond plants holding their own on the pond edges.  What a difference from one year ago when the digger was in position, removing the silt, sludge and rotting vegetation. And, fortunately, not too much litter was found there.

Oxleas Pond in the January sunshine

A team of 14 volunteers turned out for this first session of the year, consisting of both our committed core of regulars and we were delighted to welcome a handful of new pickers to our friendly team. We very much hope they too will become regular attendees.

With the frost crunching underfoot, together we collected 40 bags full of general litter (with a few frozen leaves attached), including a haul of five sacks found right at the end of the session!  Unusually for this location, but thankfully, there was very little evidence of fly-tipping this session so let’s keep everything crossed that this situation will last. 

Having a friendly chat at the session end.

What we did find was that there had clearly been a couple of parties held in the woods (numerous cider bottles and fast food packaging being the clue). There was the usual car wheel rim, gas cannisters and an orange bucket! One surprise was a pair of completely frozen track-suit bottoms which had to be snapped to fit in the bag! Also, one group followed a trail of plastic eyes and eventually found a nest of them neatly snuggled inside a rotted pumpkin! Halloween left-overs for sure!

A trail of plastic eyes leading to a rotten pumpkin!

Our next Litter Picking session will take place on Saturday, 7^th February, 2026, in a different location so, if you see large amounts of litter deposited within the woods, don’t forget to let us know.

Join our friendly Litter Picking Group and make a difference - it feels good!