Author Archives: Neil Frost

Cruising round the woods, as some of us do, and finding that despite a recent litterpick there was a lot of litter around, some of the OWLs decided to do an extra litterpick in addition to those published on the website.

And five super Owl supporters turned up. With the Covid-specific briefing, and then the health and safety briefing, over we were off on our well-established routes.

Plenty to do in the area where the Epping Forest folk have scrub-bashed one of the entrances. Not sure why they had to do that?!. (“Opening up our entrances”?!!!! Try saying it in a Kenneth Williams voice! Ooohh matron!). The effect of the scrub-bashing has been to expose litter that has been in the undergrowth for years. And shred much of it up.

We always find some unusual items. Maybe someone was into spooning? Or baking – from the look of it it could have cooked something and we don’t mean cakes!

Some good work done in this area – not a hint of litter anywhere (at the moment this pic was taken!).

Yes, we ask people not to throw their rubbish on the ground, but this is a bit extreme! (you might need to look around!)

A bit of hooting and hollering and we managed to get our volunteers back to base for refreshments (all inline with good-practice regarding Covid, including plenty of hand-sanitising)

Then on for more, moving further afield and finding the usual litter in the usual places.

We’re not really sure why, when there’s a black rubbish sack very close-by, guys still throw their sexual debris (used condoms, condom foils, lube sachets and wipes) on the ground beside it. But hey, if you get turned on by having sex while surrounded by, and sometimes treading on, other people’s discarded crap then who are we to judge?!

Plenty to do on The Mound, and of course at this time of year there is no shortage of bottles and cans. At least they get recycled!

Finally back to the car park to staple the bags so that their contents don’t escape. And then to form our traditional display at the road side. Selfridge’s window-dressers would b proud of us (ok, well maybe not!)

Another impressive (or depressing?) total number of sacks considering that it was only 10 days ago that we cleared up the same area. Seventeen sacks of general rubbish and thirteen of recyclables.

Thanks guys. You make a difference.

Our next OWL litterpick is on Tuesday, 6^th October.

 (Please note, we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session)

The OWLs give a hoot (about offensive and unnecessary litter), and we were back to work today on our third litterpick since lockdown restrictions were eased.

It’s good to be recognised and feedback from our August litterpick was that we had excelled ourselves and what we had done had made a huge difference. Nice!!

Another fine day. Another fine group of volunteers. And after the Covid-19 briefing, the rest of the Health and Safety briefing, and a healthy bit of banter, we set off in our various directions.

A key task was replacing some of the black sacks we have installed in many of the ‘hot spots’. We reckon it’s not unreasonable to expect guys, when their fun is over, to put their litter in the black sack. It’s probably easier than throwing it on the ground!

Funny what we find as we make our way through the woods emptying the rubbish sacks. Someone must have been proud that they managed to split these two cock rings (or were they just too small in the first place?!)

There’s a ‘hot spot’ we call The Gymn. So called because it has a range of facilities to allow a number of positions to be used, and from the amount of litter there it gets well-used for work-outs!

Not sure what someone used their savings for, but the money bags were empty (or was it their own savings….?).

With the sack-count increasing, due to the amount of work that was being done, it was time to take the sacks of rubbish collected so far back to the car park and enjoy a break for refreshments and a bit of a catch-up. And receive some thanks from passers-by.

Then back for more of the same with our OWLs heading off again in all directions. Strange as it might seem we like it when we’ve emptied a rubbish sack and it’s there ready for the next hot spot users to use!

Some of our group went in deep! It’s amazing, judging from the number of used condom foils, how much of the woods is used by guys to have sex. (we’re certainly not complaining).

And it’s clear that lots of guys like to have a good play in the woods – but Lego?! That’s one strange fetish isn’t it?!

Finally, time to return to the car park, staple the tops of the rubbish sacks, and put them on display at the side of the road, ready for collection by our colleagues from the City of London Corporation (which manages Epping Forest of which Snaresbrook Woods are part). And when they arrived, very nice of them to congratulate us on our efforts which they say makes a real difference.

Another impressive haul – 50 sacks of litter in total, 24 of recycling and 26 general litter (including a lot of sexual debris).

We hope our super volunteers will be back next month – along with others who would like to join in and are always welcome.

Our next OWL litterpick is on Tuesday, 6^th October.

 (Please note, we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session)

A fine day. A great group of guys. Plenty of litter to pick. What’s not to like?! (Answer: plenty of litter to pick is what’s not to like!). No one is doing the OWLs any favours by throwing their litter on the ground or in the vegetation. But it’s true that since we started litterpicking we’ve managed to avoid there being complaints about it – especially about sexual debris that many find offensive – so we are getting something right. And it is also true that many guys are using the bin and bags we put around the place, meaning that litter that might otherwise be chucked away gets bagged. And we collect it from the bags.

Of course, in these current times of extra concern we ensure that we are appropriately physically-distanced, sanitise our hands regularly and avoid sharing litterpickers.

Our party of eight got to work quickly. We wanted to clear up the nude sunbathing area before it got busy; we aim to avoid disturbing others doing what they are there for. The area was in a nasty mess. We soon took care of that.

On our way through we routinely empty the ‘permanent’ black sacks, separating the recyclable rubbish from the rest. Wipes are not recyclable. Nor do they rot. Just saying!

With OWLs in all parts of the woods it was somewhat surprising that nearly all made it back to the car park in time for some much-needed and cool refreshments. Someone had been a bit enthusiastic about chilling the drinking water; it was frozen; but the thought was there!

Already we had a good haul of filled sacks, but we soon ventured out for more.

We are not sure why some people rip the ‘permanent’ bags down. Maybe they think they detract from the natural environment? (Btw: condom foils, lube sachets, used condoms, bottles of poppers and wipes tend to detract from the natural environment).

The more experienced (wiser?) OWLs reckon we know the majority of the ‘hot spots’ where guys go if they want some time together in more private surroundings. But it’s always good to introduce our volunteers to places that they weren’t previously aware of. And which they then have the option of using should they want to!

Eventually the fun had to come to an end. Final task was to secure the bags and put them beside the road for later collection by our friendly forest warden. A total very close to our maximum – 54 sacks of rubbish of which 22 were recyclable items.

A credit to our loyal volunteers, who we hope we will see again next month. Hopefully along with others who think that what OWL does is worthwhile and worth supporting.

But wait! Did we say 54 sacks of rubbish? WRONG! Two of our trusty OWLs stayed on to do some more clearing up and added a further FIVE sacks, bringing our total haul for the day to a stonking (and in some cases stinking) 59 sacks of rubbish, 23 being of recyclable items. That’s the maximum amount the OWLs have ever collected. Another record-breaker! A brilliant effort! (although it has to be said that it would be good to have had much less work to do and far fewer sacks of litter to collect as a result of people using bins or taking their litter away with them). 

Our next OWL litterpick is on Tuesday, 1^st September.

 (Please note, we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session)

We’d planned to litterpick this year on the first Tuesday of every month from April onwards. Then Covid-19 came along. Lockdown, social-distancing and all that. So in the interests of everyone’s safety we cancelled a few work parties.

But wise OWLs can’t be locked down for ever and we felt that we needed to get back into the woods and do some clearing up of the inevitable sexual debris that would be there.

In fact it wasn’t anything like as bad as it could have been. Several valiant souls have been out litterpicking on their own – including one of our OWL group – and done a brilliant job.

Nevertheless, there was work to be done and following our posts on Squirt, along with messages to several others showing an interest, an amazing total of eleven guys turned up to litterpick. Brilliant!

A welcome, a description of the task in hand, a bit about health and safety and two teams were off in separate directions while another wise OWL flitted round the woods replacing the permanent bags we’ve installed in the hot spots.

There was plenty of litter to find and our newbies were soon up to speed and working well. Much of the litter is what we are used to. Bags, papers, cups, bottles and cans along the paths and in the more public areas. Used condoms, condom foils, lube sachets, wipes and tissues in the hotspots. The odd bottle of poppers. A latex glove. Not really sure what a tin of ‘weed’ sachets was doing in one of the hotspots?! Offering a new deal maybe?

Just over an hour’s intense litterpicking and it was time to regroup for refreshments. Not the full OWL selection due to Covid transmission issues but, following hand-sanitising, the free bottles of water and wrapped biscuits were appreciated.

Before, during and after the session it was good to have a much larger number of people than usual walking past and thanking us for what we are doing.

Time for a couple to leave us but most stayed for Round Two. More of the same but going further afield. It’s always good to introduce newcomers to hot spots they might not be aware of – even if under these circumstances the purpose is just to collect litter.

Corona was still around, of course!

Finally, the fun had to come to an end and the OWLs regrouped again to seal the bags and place them at the roadside. An amazing total number of bags, and an OWL record! FIFTY FIVE sacks of litter; thirty three of general rubbish and twenty two of recyclable rubbish.

HUGE thanks to everyone who came along and made a difference. We hope to see everyone (and more!) next month.

 (Please note, we respect everyone’s right to anonymity and only show pics of those willing to have them posted. No inferences should be drawn from anyone’s participation in an OWL litterpicking session)