Wild mannered

THERE'S the sweet scent of new-mown hay in the air and a headier scent too. It's the fragrant aroma of tansy, a plant that as far back as medieval times was used for flavouring and as a natural remedy.

All around us young apple trees, stems still scarcely thicker than a broom handle, are standing straight in the autumn sun, their slender branches laden with fruit.

"I love it when it's looking like this," says Cathy Bruce. "It's like living in the country, and yet we're just on the edge of town."

We're in Fulford, to be precise: a tiny corner of Fulford that is testimony to the power of local people to change their community for the better.

Eight years ago, Danesmead Meadow was a semi-derelict piece of waste ground: a bit of land left over after developers had finished building the Danesmead estate. It had been roughly levelled and covered with a layer of topsoil. But residents decided they wanted something more than the usual square of scruffy municipal grass.

They approached the York Natural Environment Trust (YNET) for help: and the scrap of land was transformed into 'York's first privately-owned public park'.

Ownership was passed to YNET. With the help of volunteers such as Cathy, a pond was dug, lined, filled and planted. In the spring of 1993, the fledgling 'meadow' was seeded with native wildflowers and grasses, and the following year a hedgerow of native species such as hawthorn and mountain ash was planted.

Thanks to the effort of local people, that derelict piece of waste ground has now been transformed into a thriving urban nature park. It is home to hundreds of species of wildflowers and grasses - including the tansy, meadowsweet, poppy, vetch and marigold - a host of butterflies, insects and beetles, and birds of prey such as the owl and kestrel. The pond itself is home to frogs and ducks, and there have even been visits from a heron. All this within a few yards of residents' back doors.

There are hopes too that, with its wealth of wild-growing tansy, the meadow could soon provide a second home for the rare tansy beetle, which lives along the west bank of the Ouse, a little further upstream.

"It will have to float down the Ouse to get here," admitted YNET chairman Barry Potter, "but it will be interesting to see how long it takes nature to arrange that."

A meadow is the result of a certain form of land management. Meadows developed from farmers' need to produce hay. That entailed leaving areas of land where the grass was allowed to grow, and 'harvested' only at the critical time. That in turn gave not only the grass but also wildflowers time to grow and establish themselves. And within the tangle of grasses and wildflowers lived insects, beetles, rabbits and voles, bringing with them the birds of prey that fed on them in turn. An entire ecosystem.

That's what you have at Danesmead. The hay here is cut in late summer: so that the hundreds of wildflowers have had a chance to flourish and re-seed. This leaves the meadow as a riot of colour throughout the summer, says Richard Whiting, treasurer of the Danesmead Residents and Meadow Association (DRAMA) which looks after the meadow with YNET's help.

The crowning glory of Danesmead Meadow, though, is not the wildflowers at all, but the orchard. Known simply as Shona's Orchard, in honour of former English Nature officer Shona Matheson, it is a treasure house of neglected and almost forgotten species of traditional English apple.

The trees are still young - the first were planted only a few years ago - but they're already producing fruit. More importantly, they are helping to preserve some of the native English species that are in danger of extinction.

On the Danesmead's few acres, you can find apples such as the Court Pat Pendu, popular in the 17th century, Ashmead's Kernel and Blenheim Orange, both from the 18th Century, and a host of Victorian favourites, eaters and cookers alike, such as the Sturmer's Pippin, Brownlee's Russett, Lady Sudeley and Beauty Of Bath. Just the names are enough to make your mouth water.

Nature reserve, urban park, orchard, children's play area and meeting point - it's used for social events such as Easter Egg hunts and Bonfire Night - Danesmead Meadow has got the lot. And it is, says Barry Potter, an experiment that could easily be repeated elsewhere in the city where local people cared enough to make it work.

"There are acres of grass in York, but it is useless because it is cut too short," he said. "You've got to get away from the idea that grass is there just to be cut."