Brownfield havens

摘要

The little buddleia jungle flickers with peacocks, small tortoiseshells and red admirals, as the last of the speckled woods and gatekeepers dither around black knapweed. Hoverflies cluster on the yellow candle-ends of moth mullein. Recently arrived redwings roll wasps off windfall crabapples, and goldfinches winkle seeds from teasels. After dark, roe deer come to browse, and woodmice stash their winter supplies in old drainage pipes. This place has a chequered past. It has been a limestone quarry, rubbish dump and builder's yard. Now abandoned, it's full of wildlife and one of my favourite autumn haunts. But, though far 'greener' than the surrounding fields, which are t protected by planning regulation, my little oasis *. is vulnerable to being built on.