Many thanks to all you who performed a rain dance last month, the rain brought much needed relief, although there is still some catching up to do and more rain won't go a miss. Once again this year we have a wonderful display of Campanula, especially outside the walled garden leading towards the terrace. It also crops up inside the walled garden where we have tended to protect these with wire fencing to prevent the muntjac deer stripping off the young leaves. Nobody is really sure whether this flower is a relic from Ellen Willmott's day. As last month, much of our volunteers work has been centred on checking some of the invasive plants. The East Meadow has been cleared of Ragwort, which is poisonous to grazing animals, we don't want a herd of cows going down with dodgy tummies, they make enough mess as it is. Ragwort throughout the rest of the reserve will be left to grow naturally, this plant attracts the black and red Cinnabar Moth to lay its eggs, which produces a vibrant yellow and black striped caterpillar. The Dock Leaves have been cleared from the Walled garden area and the Bracken has been 'bashed' on the Daffodil Bank, also near information Post 6. Bashing the fibrous Bracken stem with a stout stick will gradually weaken the plant's Rhizome and it will eventually die, however, this may take up to ten years before it's fully effective. So, we can look forward to plenty more opportunities for volunteers to get rid of any frustrations. Visitors may have noticed that bamboo grows in various places around the reserve, especially on the east side next to the Brentwood road . Here, three years ago work was done at cutting back and digging up the prolific and much tangled roots system just under the soil surface. A trench was also dug to stop the root system spreading further. It is now evident that not all the roots were cleared successfully and the bamboo is re-establishing itself in the cleared area where foxgloves are now growing. We've just started to clear this area again and it has been very hot and hard work with one or two volunteers shirking away after a period – new volunteers wanted who don't mind getting very hot a sweaty. Perhaps in future we'll need to maintain this area on an annual basis. Another one for the diary Warden. As reported in April, work continues on making the pathways more accessible for wheelchairs and those who are not so steady on their feet by earthing over some of the exposed tree roots on the pathways. Due to the steep terrain, where pathway steps are necessary, some parts of the reserve are likely to remain unsuitable for wheelchairs. There has been a bit of a rush over the past few months from people wanting to have memorial benches provided around the reserve, these have now been installed and have their remembered name carved into the back rest. It makes us realise how much pleasure and peace the reserve gives to some of our visitors. One of the benches provided is in memory of our former Deputy Warden, Len Dewelll who passed away earlier this year. As an exception a small plaque has also been provided on the southern wall inside the walled garden, which he so expertly and lovingly restored. | 
