Cows are welcome to graze on the Ings (From York Press)

Cows are welcome to graze on the Ings

2:13pm Tuesday 7th September 2010 in

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MISS Bolton (Letters, September 3) must be something of a newcomer to York, since the practice of lammas grazing (cows on the Ouse Ings) has occurred since time immemorial.

Land such as Clifton Ings, Rawcliffe Meadows and Rawcliffe Ings is agricultural land with a level of permissive access for walkers and cyclists, so people should respect the Country Code, while animals are under no obligation to observe the Highway Code.

The grazing is a very necessary requirement to maintain the biodiversity of the Ings, whose inhabitants include the rare and beautiful tansy leaf beetle.

Environmental management also provides the funding, without which areas like Rawcliffe Meadows would not have public access.

If Miss Bolton would like to learn more, I suggest she makes contact with Friends of Rawcliffe Meadows or the Floodplain Meadows Partnership, to learn about the management of this nationally very rare resource.

When cattle do stray from the sites, this is as a result of unwelcome visitors breaking gates, kissing gates and fences. These are the ones that should be kept off the Ings.

Mick Phythian, Friends of Rawcliffe Meadows, Monkton Road, York.