Wildflowers

Did you know?

 

• Less than 3% of British meadows remain from the 1930s

• Flower species are being lost at a rate of up to one per year per county and this is accelerating. And, when wildflowers disappear, so does all of the wildlife that relies on them.

• The collapse of biodiversity has contributed massively to the downward spiral of butterflies, bees and insectivorous birds

• Over 1400 insect species rely on wildflower meadows for survival

 

To learn more about how to protect wildflowers and our natural heritage see www.plantlife.org.uk

 

What we are doing in Shamley Green

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• Like much of the country our Parish Council is experimenting with less frequent mowing to try to arrest the damage caused by mowing which we hope will encourage species that used to be widespread to reappear.

 

• We want to discover what plants we already have so as to help us make better decisions for the future. We are recording wildflowers seen in Shamley Green as described in the Shamley Green Parish Magazine, May 2021  and November 2021.  For a full list of what we have found on our mown areas click here for 2021 and 2022

 

•  To see what we are finding month by month go to our Wildflower Diary pages.

 

 

• We gave nature a helping hand in 2021 by trialling some wildflower planting in selected areas of common land. To assist with our plans, Professor James Hitchmough, Professor of Horticultural Ecology at the University of Sheffield visited us to give expert advice. For a list of what we planted click here and visit our Wildflower Planting page.

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