Pulling Ragwort at Wheldrake Ings

30 Days Wild, day 22: One of the advantages of being a conservation volunteer is that you get to the parts of reserves that others cannot reach. Today we've been working in the vast floodplain meadows of Wheldrake Ings, normally out of bounds to the general public.

 Volunteers in the meadow

The meadow will be mown later in the summer, but to make the crop acceptable as livestock fodder it must be free of poisonous ragwort. Spraying it would kill off other plants as well, so we pull out the ragwort by hand. It is a glorious place to be at this time of year, surrounded by wild flowers and with curlews calling overhead.

Marsh ragwort

The morning's collection

Field forget-me-not

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