“Seek, and ye shall find” – or at least have an adventure trying! Volunteers from Friends of Grove Farm teamed up with the awesome crew from @goodgym_ealing for an unusual conservation mission at Grove Farm Local Nature Reserve, manhole hunting. Armed with loppers, rakes and a mysterious clue from Thames Water, we set off to track down a long-lost manhole that would allow Thames Water to remove a blockage and help save our beautiful wood anemones.​

The team methodically cleared brambles, raked back leaf litter to narrow down the search for the manhole cover, however, sadly we were unsuccessful. Instead our quest turned up plenty of hidden rubbish – bricks, pipes, pots, tyres and more – all carefully hauled out from the undergrowth to help the woodland. We will need a metal detector to aid us at the next conservation day.

Although unsuccessful we had a lot of laughs along the way – proof that the real treasure is a determined, good-humoured volunteer team. Huge thanks to Monica, Livio and Good gym ealing volunteers (Kash, Sevan,Thaiza and Lena) who came out to explore, problem-solve and care for this special site.

Want to join the next chapter of the search in December? Drop us a message and come be part of the adventure.​