This was the first outing for my birthday present from Mary - a pair of size 9 safety waders complete with steel toecaps and steel shank in the sole.
The Wandle Trust provide a goodly pile of waders - they have plenty of 10's and 11's, plenty of 6's and 7's, but only one pair of size 8 and not a single pair of size 9. Hence getting my very own pair.
It is not so long since we were here last but there was still plenty of fresh rubbish to pull out of the river.
Duvets are particularly weighty and unwieldy so we use rope and grapple to drag them up the bank.
As well as invasive flora there are also alien fauna. Chinese mitten crabs are officially listed as one of the World's 100 worst invasive species [http://mittencrabs.org.uk/].
The half-barrel, floating trugs quickly filled with the usual suspects including wheels and tyres. We always check the latter for eels as the eel count gives a measure of river water quality
The usual lunch break for tea and cake. The tea was particularly welcome to warm the fingers as the water was colder than I was expecting, given the air temperature.
It it not uncommon to find car parts beyond just tyres. This time I pulled a steering wheel and a car seat out of the ooze.
This clean-up we were joined by volunteers from local estate agents Seymour Green who helped swell the ranks of volunteers - well done guys.
The Wandle Trust is an environmental charity dedicated to restoring and maintaining the health of the River Wandle and its catchment. They hold community river cleanups on the second Sunday of every month, up and down this unique urban chalkstream – pulling out everything from shopping trolleys to shotguns, and improving the environment for birds, fish, insects and local people. For more visit: http://www.wandletrust.org/.
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