I CAN empathise with Andrew Vevers (Letters, August 12).

Five years ago, a short stretch of council-owned river bank between Poppleton Railway Bridge and the ring road held a thriving colony of Tansy plants and Tansy beetles. However, four years ago a farmer shaved the grass to the top of the river bank to make hay and then put a large number of sheep in the field. They ensured the tansy plants could not flourish, so we lost the beetles.

The same thing happened for the following two years.

After regular requests to the council’s Conservation and Environment Department, someone has this year spoken to the farmer who has left a narrow buffer zone of uncut meadow along the top of the river bank. This has allowed some tansy plants to grow, although not in the quantities seen previously, and in one very small area a few beetles have appeared.

We hope this can be done again in future years to ensure the survival of this rare insect.

Alec Acomb, Hillcrest Avenue, Nether Poppleton, York.