Midsummer Update
28th July 2025 Newsletter
Welcome to our second Newsletter.
Our aim is to keep you up to date with the changing developments on Jubilee Meadow.
In spite of the drought which started in early March, the annual flowers eventually provided a colourful display which walkers along the northern boundary with the Main Road enjoyed.
View of the Village Hall looking across the orchard. It all looks very dry!
Oscar Jamieson’s team from Drove Orchards planted some 250 apple trees earlier in the year. We look forward to seeing these native species of apple as they complement the trees on the meadow.
Drought!!
We have hardly had any rain on the meadow for the last three months, and things are struggling. The newly planted trees have been worst affected and we have organised regular volunteer working parties to try and get some water to them.
We have bought an IBC (Intermediate Bulk Container) which holds 1000 litres of water. We have also very generously been donated a trailer from a local resident. We are very grateful for this generosity which will,hopefully, help us to keep the trees going through this very dry period.
It has been a fantastic summer so far for butterflies, and this is certainly the case on the meadow. This is a small tortoiseshell. There have also been loads of common blues, ringlets, gatekeepers, essex skippers and meadow browns, as well as large and small whites, peacocks and red admirals.
Ragwort Attack!
Left uncontrolled, ragwort will very soon dominate the meadow and overcome all the wildflowers so carefully planted. So, we have been carrying out regular attacks on ragwort over the last few weeks to see if we can control it before it seeds too much. Do let us know if you can help. Thanks to Ronan, Billy, Chris, Patricia, Colin and Robert who have helped out. We know if is impossible to eradicate the ragwort completely, but we do need to try and keep it under control.