3 musketeers

Three morning musketeers met up on Ham Lands for the first time in many months to wage war on ragwort. The tall yellow plant was easy to spot amid the largely green fields, even for Adam, Monika and Sam’s untrained eyes. Though they avoided the Tansy perennials which have flowers of only a slightly darker shade. Ragwort is a striking plant but it’s poisonous to horses and cows in large quantities – and how could they resist a nibble? – so it had to go. The three GoodGymmers met Sharon, of the Friends of Ham Lands society on the patch a few hundred metres before Teddington Lock. It was a sunny Saturday but there were no regrets from the suitably dressed trio about their trousers and gardening gloves combo because much of the tansy was well hidden in among thorns and nettles. (Monika reminded Sam about his scarring experience pulling up Himalayan balsam last summer on the lands while wearing shorts to banish any doubts. Thanks Monika) The lands are due to be industrially mown in a few weeks and the tansy had to be removed so that what they collect can safely be given to horses as fodder. The natural area gets clipped once or twice a year because without maintenance the soil becomes too rich and nettles and other weeds will take over. Sharon told GoodGym Richmond that it’s been an “exceptional” summer on the lands and the volunteers have watched a huge variety of different wildflower species emerge. The wild flowers have laid their seeds so they should re-appear once the ground has been mown. Monika even found a huge spider with a yellow and black striped body and took a snap, and if anyone can identify it please let us know. We cleared an entire section of ragwort and picked up a few discarded bottles and plastic and look forward to getting down to the lands again soon.