The A30 and A38 in Devon and Cornwall alone
support 430 hectares or 4 square kilometres of flower-rich grassland? Just one
junction is home to six orchid species including bee orchids and a staggering
1100 greater butterfly orchids, according to a recent report.
Our wonderful wayside flowers are ‘under
attack’, with flowers are being mown down in full bloom, sprayed off with
poisons, or smothered with cuttings. Over time, only coarse thugs like
thistles, docks and grasses can survive this onslaught.
The organisation Plantlife has launched a
campaign which is calling on councils to follow their new guidelines on how to
better protect and manage road verges to give our native flora a chance.
Plantlife’s Dr Trevor Dines said: ‘It is
almost ironic that the way we manage our road verges now encourages coarse and
thuggish plants. Mown verges, smothered in cuttings might as well be just
strips of green concrete.
‘Plantlife receives more calls on this
subject than any other, from members of the public distraught and angry that
their favourite verges full of cowslips and orchids are being mown down in the
name of neatness and good management. But it doesn’t have to be this way – we
want people to join the campaign, log on to the website and send us your
'before' and 'after' photos to help us lobby for change.’
The importance of road verges:
* there are 238,000 hectares of road verge
in Britain, that’s twice as much grassland than is left in the countryside
* road verges and hedgerows are home to
over 1,000 species, supporting two-thirds of all our wild flowers
* 33 wayside flowers are threatened with
extinction, including Spiked Rampion, Crested Cow-Wheat and Bastard Balm,
Long-Leaved Helleborine and Tower Mustard
* with the loss of our natural meadows,
wildflowers on road verges play a vital role as a food source for pollinators
Flowers are being cut before they can set
seed and energy returned to the rootstock, and then smothered by the cuttings
which, as they rot down, add nutrients to the soil. Unfortunately, most wild
flowers thrive on poor soil.You can read more on the excellent Plantlife websit.
Join the campaign here.
By Pamela Kelt
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