Volunteers, contractors and members of the Hurst Meadows Working Group are currently cutting back and removing the dock in the middle of Fifteen Acre Field. This is because in this previously farmed, nutrient rich environment, they can thrive and out compete everything else.  By strimming we are reducing the vigour of the plants and stopping them spreading any further and producing more seeds.  Broad-leaved dock is the food plant of lots of invertebrates including the small copper butterfly, so the intention isn’t to remove it completely, but just to try to reduce the number of plants in the middle section. Thorough surveys of our skylark population were done prior to work starting to avoid disturbing nesting birds.