Beetle mania hits York as colourful character goes on display

The tansy beetle is gracing York with its presence this Sunday.

One of York’s most colourful residents and one of Britain’s most endangered species (now only found along the banks of a 25 mile stretch of the River Ouse around York) – the tansy beetle – is to be on show to the public on Sunday, May 11, 2014.

The event will start at midday at the pond on Rawcliffe Meadows, York.

In a joint exercise between the Friends of Rawcliffe Meadows and the Tansy Beetle Action Group, Dr Geoff Oxford of York University and a national expert on the beetle, will show and talk about them and the efforts being made to conserve them.

Rawcliffe Meadows Nature Park, established in 1991, covers 25 acres of the Clifton floodplain on the northern outskirts of York.

It was notified by Natural England as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), along with Clifton Ings, in September 2013. The site is owned by the Environment Agency and leased to Sustrans the cycle track operator.

The site is managed by Friends of Rawcliffe Meadows, a voluntary group belonging to the York Natural Environment Trust.

As well as providing access to open countryside for local people, Rawcliffe Meadows is managed as a traditional Ings flood meadow under the Countryside Stewardship scheme.

• The pond is at the south of the site, adjacent to the bridge across from Clifton Ings. More detailed directions are available on the Friends of Rawcliffe Meadows website
• For more information on tansy beetles read Tansy Beetle Time.