Tansy Beetles
Between St Peter’s boathouse
and the roar of Clifton Bridge,
a riverbank where tansy grows,
its yellow flowers swaying
on tall, feathery stems.
Here there should be beetles,
gleaming like emeralds.
The Victorians used their wings
for sequins. Holiday treasure
if you know where to look.
If the river floods too soon
the flowers are washed away
and the beetles with them.
The floods come earlier every year
and soon the beetles won’t be here
for kids like me who come
seeking among the tall stalks
the beetle known as The Jewel of York.
and the roar of Clifton Bridge,
a riverbank where tansy grows,
its yellow flowers swaying
on tall, feathery stems.
Here there should be beetles,
gleaming like emeralds.
The Victorians used their wings
for sequins. Holiday treasure
if you know where to look.
If the river floods too soon
the flowers are washed away
and the beetles with them.
The floods come earlier every year
and soon the beetles won’t be here
for kids like me who come
seeking among the tall stalks
the beetle known as The Jewel of York.
Chrysolina graminis, the Tansy Beetle, is a jewel-like leaf beetle that is now incredibly scarce and found only in wetland habitats. Reduction in suitable habitat and food plants, including the tansy plant, have resulted in its distribution being now limited to the River Ouse in York and a recently rediscovered small colony in the East Anglian Fens where it lives on riverwort and water mint. Climate change has resulted in early flooding of the riverbank in York and this threatens the existence of the rare and beautiful tansy beetle.
This poem is copyright (©) Carole Bromley 2025
About the Writer
Carole Bromley
Carole Bromley lives in York and writes for both adults and children. Winner of Caterpillar Prize, poems in Tyger, Tyger, The Toy, Paperbound, Little Thoughts Press and in anthologies from MacMillan, Nosy Crow, Emma Press. Teaches courses on writing poems for children https://thewritingschool.co.uk/our-courses-and-events
