Nine members of the FoPP joined the ranger, at Pickerings Pasture, to tidy up the very overgrown willow arch, put a new roof on the vandalised lych gate and to do some cutting back in the area of the bird feeding station.

On the 9th September, some of the Friends of Pickerings Pasture (including two new and very welcome members) were involved in a morning of cutting back some areas of hedging, that had become very overgrown. A bit of a jungle!

A summer of warm weather and plenty of rain had led to some excessive growth and it  was restricting the easy passage of some of the numerous visitors to Pickerings.

June - August.

A green sandpiper had returned to the Decoy by the June 15th : it is amazing how these birds can get to their northern breeding grounds and back again so early in the summer, perhaps a failed breeder?  On the same day, a first-summer plumaged hobby was chasing swifts over the decoy wood and two black-tailed godwits were on the field pools.

Wildlife at Pickerings Pasture Summer

June - August

  Marsh Orchids

Many visitors to Pickerings Pasture commented on the exceptional displays of Southern Marsh Orchids in the rough grassland. The number of plants and areas where they grow are expanding year by year. Another plant doing exceptionally well is yellow rattle- a strange plant which is parasitic on grass and other plants. It will have to be watched carefully in future years in case it overruns the meadows.