Coastal Path. Fluke Hall to Knott End. Pete Woodruff.
Black and White, taken some years ago, and not effective in showing colour to some excellent butterfly habitat, but illustrates the coastal location well.
Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar On Ragwort. Pete Woodruff.
Butterfly Conservation went out the window again on Tuesday, the day after I had found in excess of 200 specimens of butterfly and an abundance of Ragwort, including at least 60 Gatekeeper, large numbers of Cinnabar moth caterpillars, and endless numbers of other insects, all attacked/destroyed at the wrong time in the season on a walk along the coastal path from Fluke Hall to Cockers Dyke on the Fylde coast. I also met Barry who had done the same walk ahead of me and extended the walk towards Knott End to find even more butterflies than I did, he'll be delighted to read this post I'm sure.
Meeting John at Conder Green yesterday, I asked him where he'd been before coming to Conder Green, he said he had walked along the same path as I had done the day before, and told me the bank along the landward side of the path had been mowed down probably all the way to Knott End from Fluke Hall, in which case something like 4 miles at least.
This isn't the first time this has happened, and it had also been mowed down at Pilling Lane Ends on a previous year I had visited the site, and probably is every year for all I know at all these excellent butterfly locations.
This isn't the first time this has happened, and it had also been mowed down at Pilling Lane Ends on a previous year I had visited the site, and probably is every year for all I know at all these excellent butterfly locations.
All this is down to some pencil pushing clown in a council office somewhere, signing pieces of paper headed 'Jobs To Do' and either not applying all the qualifications he would have needed to have been engaged to do the job, or maybe not even have to have any qualification at all.
I intend to make enquiries about all this, meanwhile....FUCK!
I fully sympathise with your expletive, Pete. It must be particularly upsetting for this to happen so shortly after your observations that things were looking promising. There's some stupid prat out there that ought to be sacked. I wish you all the best with your enquiries.
ReplyDeleteTake good care - - - Richard
Oh gee, dum a..es :(
ReplyDeleteThis behaviour is a no go for nature and stupid because when they mow the lawn to early, they have to do again. Haven't they understood that the 'later the better'?
Things are slowly improving in our area but what a battle!
Even if we are facing the 6th extinction of species we aught to make all the efforts to slow it down and preserve what we can. Insects are at the base of the chain as we all know.
Your efforts should pay off... I hope!
Keep well, chin up!!
What's it got to do with Butterfly Conservation, Pete? Sadly its everything to do with he status of ragwort in a public place and pressure from the horse lobby. LWT has a requirement to get rid of it at Heysham NR as per EDF land
ReplyDeleteRichard/Noushka....Thanks for the positives.
ReplyDeletePete....Valid comments, but only if the cut had been made because of the Ragwort.
The problem here is that it is indeed a Butterfly Conservation issue, and this mowing regime exists, and took place irrespective of the presence of Ragwort not because of it, at the wrong time in the calendar, and detracts from the conservation of butterflies.
At the end of the day as you know Pete, I saw in excess of 200 butterflies in under one hour on this very stretch of the coast the day before the mowing machines arrived on the scene to destroy the habitat on 25 July....You couldn't make it up could you.