Since the project began last autumn, Guy Malkerson and a group of intrepid gardeners have met on a monthly basis at Butterfly Junction. At the start, work focused on clearing brambles and other invasive plants, as well as cutting back a few self-seeded trees and shrubs. When spring came, the grassland had been opened up and new wildflowers planted. All this hard work certainly paid off: at the start of summer, beautiful grasses and wild flowers waved gently in the breeze – and the butterflies came!

Whether you have been involved with this project or not, please take a look as this lovely blog – put together by the ‘Love Your Park’ team who sponsored our project. It gives a really good idea of just how much has been achieved by members of FrANC and other helpers and includes a number of comments which people put on their monitoring forms (thank you for returning these).

The group has now started tackling the two strips of wasteland on either side of the pedestrian/cycle path beyond Butterfly Junction to where the path meets Avon Crescent. There are exciting plans to transform this area for the benefit of all who use it, including planting an avenue of native cherry trees.

You might be interested to know that the Butterfly Junction project is part of a submission we have made to ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ – a Britain in Bloom initiative. Our assessor visited in early July and we will be notified of the outcome in the autumn. More on this in due course.

If you have been one of the Butterfly Junction gardeners – thank you! Your help has been greatly appreciated.

If you’re not yet one of the Butterfly Junction gardeners and would like to know more, please see our Community Gardening Group at Butterfly Junction event.