Don’t know if it was the leaden skies or the fact that it was Yorkshire Day but Mick felt like a lonely bunny as he took control of the thistle, docks and brambles making their way out of the Cricket Field Copse at the southern end of the Meadows. However, before long Evie (our Tansy Beetle monitor at New Meadow) and her dad Kevin appeared to take away the isolation.

As it is difficult to cut with modern, large equipment this section between the Barrier Bank and Cricket Field Copse often needs manual intervention, especially as the Environment Agency messed everything up this year. However, the cows, bullocks and little calves have been doing their best and the area wasn’t as bad as it might have been but the weeds and brambles still needed tackling.

Between the three of us we made a good stab at cutting them back and relocating under the Hazel copse to mulch down. More hands would have done more but it was not to be.

The next session is on Sunday 11th August at the Bee Bank in the Cornfield Reserve arable. The hay cut will have left some standing vegetation and there will be some fine weeding required. Following a suggestion we will also drill some additional holes in the Oak sleepers that surround the bank to make potential nests for solitary bees.

The 2019 generation of Tansy Beetles are rising up now so keep your eyes peeled.