大象传媒

Rawcliffe Meadows, a long strip, next to York鈥檚 river Ouse, sits between a beck and a grassy flood bank. On it there are almost two hundred different types of wildflowers and grasses.

Amongst this green breathing space there are wetlands, grasslands and copses, which provide homes to many different birds and mammals, including a number of nationally rare species, such as the green, shimmering, Tansy Beetle.

Mick Phythian is one of the Friends of Rawcliffe Meadows. Here he explains a little more about this tiny rare creature.

Its range is currently restricted to 26 kilometres of the banks of the River Ouse around York and Selby. It was once quite widespread throughout Britain, but environmental factors (possibly due to introduced plants that have replaced the tansy plant) have contributed to a sharp decline in population.

A recovery programme is underway. The Friends of Rawcliffe Meadows early on identified the site as an important one for the beetle and have since initiated a project called Grow More Tansy to establish increasing numbers of plants of local provenance and hopefully thus increase numbers of the beetle.

Keeping up the numbers!

Research has been going on at the University of York to discover more about the beetle but we believe that little is still understood about it. The Friends actively monitor the beetle throughout May, June and July when the beetle briefly appears, mates and disappears again!