Church Hill...

This year, the grasses and nettles have been allowed to grow on Church Hill, instead of being cut back in June. I'd like to thank whoever it is who usually looks after this area for leaving it alone and giving the insect population a chance to get re-established up there this year.

That won't please the "got to keep it tidy" merchants, some of whom were particularly nasty and unpleasant on Cuxton's anti-social media a while back when complaining about the long grass and daisies in the churchyard. But then they seem like the sort of people who will have a moan about anything. "Why doesn't SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING" is their refrain. Of course, that "somebody" is never them - by "somebody", of course, they mean "somebody else".

And I just wonder how much simpler the concept of "No-Mow May" has to be before some folk get to understand it.

I happen to rather like the long grass on Church Hill at the moment, which has now turned a pleasant golden colour and is so restful to watch as it sways in the breeze. Leaving grass and nettles to grow during the late spring and summer is also a boon to summer insects, particularly butterflies.

This year, for once, has been a particularly good one so far for Small Tortoiseshells, which have otherwise been struggling to hang on in what once was a stronghold for them. There were quite a few larval colonies on the Church Hill nettles this May, and it seems as if many of them have made it through to the adult stage judging by the numbers I have seen this year.

Church Hill panorama

The same is true for other nettle-using butterflies, such as Peacocks and Red Admirals. Talking to people who live close to Church Hill, many have observed that "it's a good year for butterflies", and I think the situation on Church Hill has helped greatly in that respect.

The long grass has also encouraged the Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites back, the latter having been driven away in the previous couple of years where the grass was cut short in early June.

Hopefully, a continuation of this "no mow summer" policy will also see the return of the Common and Chalkhill Blues, the Ringlets and the Wall butterflies, all of which used to grace Church Hill in the summer in good numbers, but could not survive the spring or early summer cut-back of grass that has happened in the past few years.

A hay cut in September would be just the job (with the insects that overwinter in the larval or pupal stages usually having gone to ground by then) otherwise the brambles and hawthorns will start taking over. But if whoever it is who usually does these things can't do it, well, you won't see me complaining. Time, equipment and fuel to run it all is not cheap.

Oh, and talking about people who do stuff (rather than those who just moan about others not doing it) many thanks to whoever it was (Cuxton Countryside Group, I suspect) who replaced the broken gatepost and the gate at bottom of Church Hill.

Nice job. That should see out those of us who care about such things.