Task: Edit the
excerpt below by correcting, reorganizing, condensing and rewriting the text
for clarity and readability.
Scrap metal yard’s
are hardly the obvious places to practise nature conservation, but in Yapton, a
small village in Sussex, there is a rather unusual exception. The Yapton Metal
Company owned by my parents deals in non-ferrous metals and all kinds of
second-hand goods. I run the business and am also a keen naturalist. I try to
observe everything that grows, crawls, creeps or flies in the yard.
Here,
butterflies haunt the buddleia and thistles that grow out of the gaps among
piles of zinc and stainless steel, and up to 14 species have been recorded in a
year. Rabbits have happily colonised the vast bramble complex behind sheds made
out of doors and gas cookers, and over 50 species of birds are seen each year.
Every year
swallows nest in one or more of the sheds. Wrens or robins rear their young
successfully in a multitude of strange places – old kettles, lavatory cisterns,
even the old chimney of a boiler. Last year, a lesser-spotted woodpecker caused
so much interest by drumming on the pole holding up the telephone wires across
the yard, and in the spring a female blackbird reared a family of four in an
ingenious nest built on a bicycle wheel.
I am currently
working on a complete natural history of the scrap yard and, when completed,
the quantity and variety of flora and fauna should be impressive if not unique.
The history will indicate what is surviving in one of the most unlikely
ecological habitats.
Scrap metal yards are hardly the obvious place to
practice nature conservation, but in Yapton, a small village in Sussex, there
is a rather unusual exception. The Yapton Metal Company, which is owned by my
parents, deals in non-ferrous metals and all kinds of second-hand goods. I run
the business and am also a keen naturalist. I try to observe everything that
grows, crawls, creeps or flies in the yard.
Here, butterflies haunt the buddleia and thistles
grow out of the gaps among piles of zinc and stainless steel with up to 14
species having been recorded in a year. Rabbits have happily colonised the vast
bramble complex behind sheds. Behind these sheds made out of doors and gas
cookers over 50 species of birds are seen each year.
Every year, swallows nest in one or more of the
sheds. Wrens or robins rear their young successfully in a multitude of strange
places – old kettles, lavatory cisterns, even the old chimney of a boiler. Last
year, a lesser-spotted woodpecker caused so much interest by drumming on the
pole holding up the telephone wires across the yard. In the spring, a female
blackbird reared a family of four in an ingenious nest built on a bicycle
wheel.
I am currently working on a complete natural
history of the scrap yard and, when completed, the quantity and variety of flora
and fauna should be impressive, if not, unique. The history will indicate
survival in one of the most unlikely ecological habitats.