Author Archives: Neil Frost

Another opportunity for the OWLs to get busy picking up litter in the woods, making the place better for everyone and reducing the likelihood that other users of the area will complain about what they regard as offensive litter. Some of us might regard a dirty used condom hanging from a tree as normal, others might not.

Interestingly, today a number of passers-by asked if we were volunteers (which of course we are!), thanked us, and said how impressed they were with our efforts – and the amount of rubbish we collected.

The usual start, heading as a team off through the woods, taking in most of the hot spots where horny action takes place. And good to see that so many of the black bags we’ve left in place were being well-used. It’s a bit of a pain emptying some of them, but if used condoms, condom sachets, lube sachets, tissues and wipes end up in them, rather than being discarded in the area around, then we are happy OWLs!

One of the early OWLs put a bin in the middle of the woods to encourage guys to put their litter in it. It’s been well-used by lots of people, especially at weekends when the weather is good. Unfortunately, as it’s not an ‘official’ bin the litter doesn’t get collected from it. A kind Forest Warden used to empty it for us, but he’s now retired. So if we aren’t available to catch up with emptying it, it overflows and the foxes dig into it.

Much better once we’ve visited!

With skilled regulars taking part we can cover a lot of ground pretty quickly, visiting those areas which get most use.

Of course we don’t just confine ourselves to the hotspots, those little dens where guys go to have fun in private. We try to cover the whole area with, at this time of year, drink bottles and cans occupying our time in lots of places.

With about as many full bags as we could carry between us it was soon time to head back to base and enjoy a break, a chat and a catch up.

Then, back for more, and on the way time to do a bit of selective pruning in order to make it easier to get to popular areas.

Someone has been littering the place with green, domestic, Waltham Forest recycling bags. Far too many, so they look more like litter than any litter that gets put inside them. But worse still, hung pathetically from bushes beside the path where they get torn apart by the foxes and the litter gets strewn about. And they don’t get emptied! What’s the point of them? We really don’t get it. Nor do the Epping Forest Wardens who disapprove of them.

There’s never enough time to cover everywhere, but between us we’d had a good crack at it and the bag-count at the end showed how well we’d done! 12 sacks of recyclable rubbish and 18 of general rubbish (much of it being sexual debris).

Another good session in the woods!

 (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 win some and we lose some! Today we were winners. Not only did the rain hold off, making litterpicking a lot more bearable, but someone seemed to have visited some of the areas we routinely clear up and made a pretty reasonable job of it. What’s not to like?! (well actually, what we don’t like – and nor do the Epping Forest Wardens – is the random hanging up of green ‘Waltham Forest’ recycling rubbish sacks; they look a mess, there are far too many of them; foxes tear them open; they blow about; they don’t get emptied)!

As usual we set off with enthusiasm and determination along our usual route.

It’s always good to come across areas where rather than chuck litter away on the ground it’s been thrown in the rubbish sacks that have been put there for just that purpose.

The work of others meant that in many places we could just do the final bits of tidying up and move on – making progress much faster. And as usual leaving time for us to study some of the more unusual litter (not featured here, but a giant bottle of mouthwash suggested an adherence to very high standards of oral hygiene!)

The OWLS (OUT With Litter) pride themselves on knowing the majority of the ‘hot spots’ – places most likely to be used for sexual encounters. And, sadly, not all of them are used by people who are considerate in using the rubbish sacks, preferring just to throw their rubbish on the ground. Here’s a ‘before’ and ‘after’

Before

After

With much of the area of the cruising ground covered a welcome break for friendly refreshments.

Then on to more distant parts, ensuring that the majority of ‘hot spots’ had been cleared up and that all of the ‘permanent’ rubbish sacks, left discretely for after-shag use, had been emptied and replaced.

And finally back to base

Time to staple the bags up, to prevent them being emptied before collection, and then the arrangement at the roadside ready for collection by our Epping Forest warden friends.

Then either departure for home, or an opportunity for some quality control (not necessarily of the litterpicking variety…!) or time to do a bit of maintenance on some of the ‘permanent’ bags.

 (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)

Lovely weather to be out in the woods! But that meant that there were fewer litterpickers than we’d have hoped for. Nevertheless we had three of the most experienced of our volunteers in fine form and ready to deal with the usual assortment of detritus that can spoil the area for many.

As usual we started off together, aiming in the same general direction but ensuring maximum efficiency by dealing with our own preferred areas and not getting in each other’s way.

Thanks to the efforts of a few OWLs who also do their own litterpicking sessions, along with the increasing numbers of considerate users of the woods who put their litter in the rubbish sacks provided, there was less litter than usual for our volunteers to deal with.

We noticed a lot more condoms than usual (Viagra available over the counter? Spring? Longer days?), but less lube sachets than we would usually see (and a lot more shitty tissues – are the two connected?!).

Not everyone is considerate. Surely it’s as easy to throw tissues in the rubbish sack as it is to throw them on the ground? Maybe this is an indicator of those who advertise for ‘dirty sex’?! Maybe it’s a way of marking territory?

Whatever we come across we deal with. We’ve seen it all before and have probably dealt with it all before.

As if it was planned we all converged back at the car park for refreshments at about the same time.

Then on for more, working our way through the woods to the east of the car park.

We’ve experimented with a new technique of putting a second rubbish sack inside the sacks we staple to trees in ‘hot spots’. It’s working well as it is much easier to lift out a complete sack than to try to invert a fixed one to empty it!

We reckon we covered most of the hot spots. We had to leave one undealt with because it was in use for some ‘action’. We try not to be nosey, but a quick glance showed some very athletic action going on – all credit to the guys!

Finally (well, not quite finally!) back to the car park to staple and tie the bags, put them beside the road ready for collection and take the obligatory picture of today’s lineup of sacks.

But one of our number needed to do the subsequent quality control cruise around the woods, and especially to check on the nude sunbathing area. (for directions click here.). There were two more sacksful of general and recyclable rubbish there to add to today’s tally. So overall, the equivalent of 6 sacks of recycling and 11 of general rubbish.

 (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)

Not the best weather but nevertheless eight stalwarts, including two new members, turned up to remove as much litter, and especially sexual debris, as possible.

Some of us know the ‘hotspots’ very well, and for others they were new (or so they claimed!).

It was the usual plan of attack with everyone moving in the same general direction, sometimes working alone

sometimes in twos and threes

and sometimes meeting together in larger groups to review progress.

Despite an invitation for other cruisers to join us for a hot drink no one did. The refreshment break is always a good opportunity to catch up on news and have a few laughs.

Lots of the hotspots were in their usual, rather tacky, state. It is surprising how quickly a mucky area can look much smarter.

Given how long it was since our last full litterpick there was less litter than we had expected. Partly due to the weather not being the best weather for less enthusiastic cruisers, partly due to others having done some litterpicking (thank you) and partly due to more and more guys putting their litter in the bins and bags provided (thank you).

It was a good total haul for the day – the equivalent of 15 sacks of recyclable bits and pieces and 25 sacks of general litter.

Thanks to all who took part. We hope to see you again in May!

 (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)