Around a year ago, my local parish council decided to rewild a strip of land near my house and turn it into a special conservation area. My mum, who is a councillor, has been putting new native plants in, as well as wildflower seeds and yew saplings. These plants included wood spurge, ragwort, butcher’s broom and lords-and-ladies, which now have bright orange-red berries.
As May turned into June, we found that many insects had come to make it their home. One particular moth was common, looking like rubies flying in and out of the trees – scarlet tiger moths. Once we saw 10-20 of them in just 20 minutes. Their bright red underwings were easy to spot against the dark green of the yew trees.
Now it’s the summer holidays and I have been able to visit much more. I’ve been watching the strip of land slowly transform from an area full of bright colours to an autumnal landscape of deep reds and fiery oranges. A few flowers are still in bloom, including mulleins, betony, green alkanet and wild carrot.
A number of insects have been spotted, such as ladybirds (whose pupae fed on the aphids on the giant burdock), hoverflies, dragonflies, bats, bees, slugs and snails. We have also seen quite a few butterflies, particularly the red admiral, which loves feeding off the purple flowers of the buddleia. I think we can say the project has been a success so far.
Tess, 11
