You may recall that the meadow at Raw Nook NR has been neglected over the years which has encouraged grasses to push out the native flowers thence over the years I have starting to record fewer butterfly and moth species at the meadow.
However, our group recently had a meeting with Sarah YWT and her new assistant Peter Gurney Community Nature Reserves assistant for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust where we highlighted the meadow issue.
Well we recently received some good news from Peter as he and 10 of
(Tomorrow’s Natural Leaders WYT) had given the meadow a much needed spring cut…They did a brilliant job but just couldn’t rake up all the cuttings… No problem…an ideal opportunity for our group’s workday which was on Saturday.
We decided to rake up the cuttings and because Peter and team had cut the meadow we were able to dig up small areas of grass and spread wildflower seed which will start to restore this valuable wildlife meadow.
There way a few blisters and arching backs but knowing we may have Common Blue butterflies coming back to breed on the meadow made the work worthwhile…
A special thank you to one of our members, Gillian who is not so well at the moment but still attended and did a brilliant job.