With the warmer weather behind us, we are now underway with our final grass cutting round of the season.
As has been well publicised, we have been managing 40 per cent of the grass in our city for nature. Instead of cutting absolutely everything, we left a number of verges of better use to nature than to residents to grow - just cutting round the edges to keep paths and roads clear.
But with the nights drawing in, the time has come to start the big cut back, which means mowing everything to ensure that the grass survives over the colder months.
As in previous years, instead of leaving all of the clippings where they fall, we have been baling as much we can, particularly in our designated wildlife meadows.
We're doing this because when clippings decompose into the soil they act as a fertiliser. Fertile soils are not good for biodiversity because they only encourage grass growth, which means smaller wildflowers cannot compete for space and light.
Therefore, the less fertile the soil, the shorter the grass and the healthier the flowers next year. Higher plant biodiversity means more habitats for insects, mammals, bird and amphibians.
Clearly we won't be baling everything. Many of the verges or green spaces that we've left to grow are too small or too steep to practically or safely get big balers in but rest assured, everything will be cut back by the end of the year.