Wild flowers 2011

News from the Environmental Group

One of the activities that the Stainforth Environmental Group has been engaged on is the Road Verges Project. This is organised by the Yorkshire Dales National Park and there are lots of other villages and towns taking part. We are grateful for the support of James Ferguson who is running this programme.

The aim of the project is to enhance the quality of wildlife on the road-side verges. With the right management these areas can be restored to species-rich environments, which are great homes for wildlife, wildflowers and nectar-seeking insects.

We hope to continue this work, and perhaps extend the area. More volunteers are always welcome ... !

Our verge

We have been working on ‘our’ verge for three years. It is on the road to Silverdale and Halton Gill just outside the village, (opposite and a little way beyond Martin Sharp’s barn) on the left, between telegraph poles numbers 5 and 8.

The grass is cut very short by strimming in the late summer and, when the flower seeds have dropped a week later, the cut grass is cleared away. This helps to weaken the grass and gives the wildflowers a better chance of growing and flowering. On our verge this is certainly working and there are now many more flowers than there were before. There is nothing much to see at the moment, but in the spring and summer this road verge is a picture – as the photos, taken over two years, show. The bluebells and the chicory are on a different patch on the other side of the road, but as you can see they are doing very well without any help from us.

The photos

Preview of a selection of the photos

Carole, October 2011