Small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) amongst the grassland. This butterfly is dependent on grasses such as yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) as the main foodplant of its larval stage
Thursday 30th July 2026 - An ample supply of shade was on offer for todays turnout of volunteers as they got to grips with The Spinney.
With a phase 1 survey being undertaken at Wilderness Island the rest of the team spent their time on some needed vegetation control at the slightly scruffy looking Spinney, clearing back Ivy from the front fence-line to widen the pavement space, clearing Nettles from the open glade and bashing back Bramble from the main track of the site.
Tuesday 28th July 2026 -It was a slowly heating day for the sizeable team at Carshalton Road Pastures, luckily there was a fair bit of breeze blowing over the site to make things that little bit more bearable.
With phase 1 surveys being undertaken at the nearby Grove Lane and Lambert Copse, the remaining assembly concentrated their efforts on tackling Bramble and scrubby Tree regrowth around the chalk scrapes and the new chalky bund to aid the contractor grass cutting over the coming months.
Thursday 23rd July 2026 - It was still quite a hot day and shade was at bare minimum for a fairly large team working at Queen Marys Park.
As the phase 1 survey got going across the large site the rest of the team were anchored around the Butterfly Bank and its immediate vicinity where they devoted their time to weeding out Bramble and the odd spot of Nettle from amongst the desired wild flowers and dead heading patches of Hog Weed that were just meters from the undulating bank.
Tuesday 21st July 2026 - The temperature was at a more tolerable level for today smaller turnout of volunteers as they stretched the task between the Wellfield complex of sites and Oaks Park.
Undertaking the last couple of condition assessments, the surveyors performed their random stop sampling at Oaks Park and then Wellfield East whilst the remaining contingent got busy at Wellfield North tackling Clematis that has begun to migrate from the fence-line into the chalk grassland.
Thursday 16th July 2026 - With a slightly smaller contingent of volunteers todays activities were divided between the Lakeside and Wet Meadow areas of Beddington Park.
As the surveying squad set about carrying out the phase 1 survey and condition assessments (amid some of the tallest specimens of Wild Carrot on the teams records) at the Lakeside Meadow the remaining team could be found clearing the route for the extension to the fenceline on the Wet meadow (to fully enclose the cattle when they are introduced).
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