Bath Voice News: Lyncombe Hill Fields – what to look out for in July and August in the Wild Hilltop Paradise in south Bath.

The Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields have penned these notes on nature’s summer highlights in the green space: Hear the growing hum of insects: chirping grasshoppers rub their legs together and this is called ‘stridulation’, although some sounds can’t be heard by us humans.
Butterflies, whose caterpillars feed on grasses, are on the wing right now; meadow browns, small skippers, ringlet and the occasional marbled white
Brambles are profuse with pink-tinged flowers attracting many bees and hoverflies.
Bats, including Noctules and Pipistrelles fly most evenings, skirting along treelines hunting for moths and gnats.
The tall black knapweed, and even taller hemp-agrimony and buddleia, all support pretty purple flowers attracting butterflies.
More news from the Friends: On Tuesday 9th June, as part of QE Day (in memory of Queen Elizabeth II) organised by Paragon School to inculcate the joys of volunteering from a young age, we had nine children up to the age of ten with us. It’s always a joy seeing how engaged they all are when ‘on task’ e.g. preparing the soil for plugs of red campion, ox-eye daisies and field scabious. The children also had a tour of the fields where they saw the Tiny Forests, the laid and dead hedges, one of our ponds with the water collecting structure – they loved the upturned umbrella! Later they identified flowers and insects and interviewed passers-by with carefully crafted questions as to why they visited the Fields.
Then the following evening we had 20 adults for a two-hour Nature Walk promoted through the Festival of Nature organisation and other local channels. For the first time we advertised this as a visit to Lyncombe Hill Fields Nature Reserve.
Finally on the evening of Tuesday 30th June 10 girls from the 9th Bath (Beechen Cliff) Guides and two of their leaders, undeterred by heavy rain showers, explored the Fields in support of their work for their Biodiversity badges. They also showed great enthusiasm in raking up cut grass in the NE corner of the South Field.
The Fields
The Fields below Beechin Cliff School and Alexandra Park are owned by Bath and North East Somerset Council, and from the beginning of September 2020, the land has been managed under licence by the Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields, a newly formed not-for-profit Community Interest Company (FLHF). The two unpaid company directors (Maurice Tennenhaus and Chris Kinchin-Smith) live locally and have been strong advocates of the principle of local management of the Fields since the Council first attempted to find a new tenant in the autumn of 2018. The company is sponsored by the Widcombe Association, Greenway Lane Social Committee, Greenway Lane Area Residents’ Forum, Bear Flat Residents’ Association and the Friends of Alexandra Park, with support also from Bathscape.
Directions
The gate into the North Field, near the top of the ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ footpath which links Calton Road and Alexandra Road in Widcombe to the Alexandra Park viewpoints;
The gate into the South Field opposite no. 100 Greenway Lane BA2 4LN; The gate into the West Field from the public footpaths that cross the playing fields of Beechen Cliff School.
Volunteering
To help the work of the Friends in maintaining the fields, or to help behind the scenes or in one of the research groups visit https://friendsoflyncombehillfields.co.uk/how-to-volunteer/