Don’t pu-pa the ones with berries on, the insects larvae them

After having not had the butterfly project in June due to the Ham Fair, it seemed like an eternity ago that we had last joined our Friends of Ham Lands.

Today we were joined by Camden's Katie, and after MANY months of waiting, we found lots and lots of butterflies and caterpillars. At last!

We worked on cutting back the brambles and yanking out the bindweed from the borders of the path leading to Teddington Lock. Rob was on Machete Axe Duty and persistently (and with concerning levels of enthusiasm) hacked at roots that remained after the bramble snipping. Although it turned out that we shouldn't have been cutting the ones with berries on as the insects and birds feed on them - despite it almost being the end of term, every day's a school day...

We bagged up along the way, hauling the giant brambles into the giganticist of giant bags, and then moved further down the path and repeated. You know what they say: hack, attack, bag, repeat!