114 million orchids in the slipstreams of our cars

Andy Byfield
Landscape Conservation Manager

I guess I could be voted Britain’s worst driver during the summer months, for when at the wheel my eyes are invariably affixed to our glorious flower-covered road verges, and all-too-rarely on the road ahead.  A recent distraction has been the fabulous displays of pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis) across our warmer, more lime-rich parts of the countryside.  Last week I spotted them on every verge and roundabout on the outskirts of Gloucester, but a particular favourite are the pyramidals that adorn the Ilminster bypass, the gateway to the south-west, for those hauling westwards along the A303.

The Ilminster bypass was opened in 1988, and today drivers pass dense displays of the orchids on warm, south facing road cuttings along the few miles of this route, roughly 25 years after the habitat was created.  I ‘guestimated’ roughly 1100 flowering plants along the short few miles earlier this year, but suspect that there are many, many more (the Ilminster bypass is a notorious accident blackspot, so I cast only half an eye on the verges).  The great thing is that they are being managed properly – being allowed to flower and seed, before the grass cutters ‘go in’ to clean up.

Of course, the orchids and other flowers make my car journeys immeasurably more pleasurable, but in a landscape ever more devoid of colourful grassland, these verge refuges become ever more important for myriad flowers, insects, mammals, birds and much more.  Now, here is a heartening thought about Britain’s changing attitude to road verge management: on average, a typical pyramidal orchid produces 65 flowers, of which 80% set viable seed (information so far from the orchid books).  If we make the conservative assumption that each developing seed pod produces 2000 seeds (plump bee orchid pods can contain as many as 26,000!), then the Ilminster colony will produce a staggering 114 million seeds this year, to be carried in your and my slipstreams as we head away on holiday.



I am thrilled to say that the Highways Agency division that manages the Ilminster bypass verges do so very much with wildlife in mind: they do the essential verge cuts, but they do them late in the year (often even in winter).  But how very sad that so many of our verges are cut down in the prime, when plants are in full flower, destroying literally in a single swipe so much potential for bringing colour back to the countryside.

If you like the idea of 114 million orchids on our verges, why not add your voice add your voice to our campaign for better management?

The best of our beautiful wildflower-rich road verges

Luke Morton
Plantlife Moderator

We've had a fantastic response to our Road Verge Campaign this year. Four Councils have signed up for Alan's Challenge and many, many more are talking to us, trying to find a way to improve how their roadsides are managed for wildlife. A huge part of this is down to you. We've been overwhelmed by your support. Whether its engaging your council, raising awareness, taking photos or signing the petition every action has helped. So thank you - both from us and our roadside wildlife.

Of course, we cannot be complacent. There's still a long way to go. If you haven't already, please sign our petition and if you have a friend who loves wildlife please encourage them to do so too.

With so many beautiful wildflowers being mown down in their prime, its easy to forget how wonderful our road verges can look. Thank goodness then, for all you photographers out there who've snapped some fabulous displays. We've been compiling them on a special Storify page and it never fails to brighten our day. Have a scroll through yourself and if you've any you'd like to submit please tweet them to @Love_plants.

In a couple of weeks the growing season will be over and it'll be time to "Say YES to the Mow". Dr Trevor Dines will be here with a blog explaining how and why, but in the meantime enjoy them while they last...

Guest Blog: James Fair hits the road to see wildflowers

James Fair
Environment Editor, BBC Wildlife Magazine

Taking to my bike for a rare morning away from the kids at the weekend, I was happy to realise that it was a really good way to see wildflowers. I was going fast enough to cover plenty of ground, but slow enough to spot things as I went, and I didn't have to worry about blocking a narrow country lane when I stopped to take some shots.

I went with nothing but my not-very-top-of-the-range smartphone, and while some photos didn't come off, most look pretty good.

This picture of common poppies Papaver rhoeas and ox-eye daisies Leucanthemum vulgare was taken on the edge of a field, but it was easily accessible from the road.

I found these pyramidal orchids Anacamptis pyramidalis on the very steep Culver Hill which makes its way up some 500 feet or so from the bottom of the Nailsworth Valley to Minchinhampton Common.

I saw this white campion Silene latifolia at the Rodmarton Long Barrow – a neolithic burial site that's in the middle of vast fields of wheat.

As I said, I was only carrying my smartphone, so some shots didn't quite come off. These meadow cranesbills Geranium pratense – at least I hope they're meadow cranesbills – were swaying in the wind, which may be why I haven't quite got the focus right.

Dog roses Rosa canina were everywhere and looked fantastic.

These flowers have tested my ID skills – they don't look quite right for red campion Silene dioica to me, so I wonder if they could be hybrids. The wildflower guide in the office suggests they could be.

There was only one point when I regretted not having a proper camera with a long lens with me. I saw a roe deer sitting among a huge wheat field, and when it ran off, leaping high over the lush crop, it would have made a fantastic photo.

• James Fair is the Environment Editor for BBC Wildlife Magazine. Discover wildlife and photography at their best on their website.

Why Our Road Verge Wildflowers are Worth Saving for Wildlife

Andy Byfield
Landscape Conservation Manager





For a few short weeks in May, the great outdoors turns a vibrant, almost claustrophobic green.  Oak, beech and sycamore are in fresh young leaf, whilst the grasses of pastureland and arable field alike seemingly burgeon before our very eyes.  With so much herbage all around, the environment should be in fine fettle, yet so often those same green fields are largely devoid of wildlife, save for a fine sward of ryegrass, and the occasional weed in a gateway.  Their former life and colour has literally been swamped by the repeated dosing of fertilisers and weedkillers.

At the same time, our best road verges give an inkling of just how colourful our countryside used to be. Down here in the south-west of England, a ‘technicolour dreamcoat’ of bluebell, red campion, greater stitchwort, buttercup and early purple orchid are at their glorious best as I write these words, and as the season progresses, so these will be replaced in turn by marsh orchid, ox-eye daisy and much else.  In fact, our verges can be seen as a microcosm of Britain’s hugely varied habitats and landscapes, providing dry and wet rocky outcrop, fine turf,heath, scrub and woodland, often in surprisingly short succession.

Thus verges in Hampshire harbour gleaming long-leaved helleborines and other woodlanders, mimicking the vegetation of nearby woodland; in East Anglia, the likes of rarities such as field wormwood, grape hyacinth and perennial knawel on Breckland verges are a reminder of the summer-dry continental climate of this peculiar corner of England; whilst globeflower, melancholy thistle and wood cranesbill crammed verges of northern England and Scotland are a glimpse of the former glory of our lost upland haymeadows. Apparently, roughly two-thirds of our flowering plants crop up somewhere or other along a wayside.  Its a sad fact, but as the wider countryside has lost its meadows and heathlands, so our verges become an ever more important haven for plants and animals, the unofficial nature reserves of cliché.

Of course, in the distant past – before my time even! – wayside verges were grazed by livestock and doubtless cut as a bonus crop of hay, yet in the sixties and seventies, I remember when the exuberant May-time verge-side herbage were routinely ‘dampened’ with a liberal dose of weedkiller.  In more enlightened times, the sprays have largely gone and the conservation movement has been effective in identifying special stretches as protected verges, perhaps to conserve some rare butterfly or orchid, or a particularly flowery grassland.  These latter efforts have unquestionably saved some of our finest surviving verge habitat, but it seems to me that the time has come to make sure that all verges are managed sympathetically, not just the best.  After all, the 2013 State of Nature report showed that 60% of our rarer plants and animals continue to decline, confirming the findings of Defra’s 2010 review of England’s wildlife sites, Making space for nature.

In it, the panel’s chair, Professor Sir John Lawton, commented that there “is compelling evidence that England’s collection of wildlife sites are generally too small and too isolated, leading to declines in many of England’s characteristic species”. According to Lawton, the solution lies in ‘bigger, better and more joined-up’ habitats for biodiversity, recognising the real benefits that ecological corridors could have in allowing nature to thrive.  I cannot think of any way of linking our landscapes together, than bringing good management to our stock of road verges.

The area of vergeland habitat in Britain is equivalent to the area of the Public Forest Estate in England – a thrillingly large resource if managed properly.  And there is plenty of evidence that with good management, verges can rapidly develop stunning, flower-rich habitats, with a bounty of insect life in tow, in a surprisingly short time under such management.

True, the budgets available to our highways authorities – the Highways Agency and the county councils – is more restricted than ever before, but sympathetic management could involve as little as shifting the mowing dates by just a few weeks.  It is great that Plantlife is relaunching its road verge campaign this month – and we’d love it if you join our campaign, alongside our generous celebrities, in encouraging our councils to cherish this invaluable wildlife resource.

Useful links:

• Plantlife Road Verge Campaign

Road Verge Campaign: The Cutting Edge update

Its always heart-warming to log on to good news. So thank you Liz Anderson for the following message and photograph posted on our Facebook page:

This is a fabulous example of Central Beds. Road Verge Nature Reserves - such an improvement on last years cutting regime they look fantastic and deserve a well done:

We can't help but agree.

We've also received praise for Isle of Wight Council and South Derbyshire District Council. And there was also this lovely tweet from Carl Cornish:

@cornishca: @Love_plants Photo of common spotted orchids on Notified Road Verge at Eaton Wood, Notts:

Alas, according to Steve James, all was not well elsewhere in Nottinghamshire:

@stevejamesPCC: Upper Broughton's top green planted as a wildflower meadow in 2000 was strimmed completely Saturday morning.

And it was happening on the road verges too:

 

Now this is not to take away from the good work that is evidently being done at Eaton Wood Notified Road Verge. But it does beg the question: should a road verge have to be designated as "Notified" or a reserve in order for it to be managed with a bit more care for our wildlife? Please let us know your thoughts in the Comments below.

Elsewhere we received complaints about Leeds and Worcestershire County Councils:

@WildlifeofLeeds: @Love_plants @leedscc mowing down 1000s of meadow buttercups right now on Roundhay Ring Road


@Blacklaceknits: @Love_plants lovely wild verges along A456 being mown to ground level by Worcestershire County Council. Very disappointing.

And some more "Before and After" images to add to our Gallery of Shame: 

Susie Clark on Facebook: I am currently staying in Staffordshire and on way to Fradley South shops from Fradley village witnessed the decimation of a wildflower meadow into a green flattened area.

Before:

After:

But let's end on a more positive note. We received the following image from Charlie Bloom, of a wild flower garden she created to raise awareness of our meadow and road verge flora. It won the RHS Bronze Medal winning Show Garden at BBC Gardeners World Live.

 

Let's hope the message is getting through. As always you can sign the petition and rate your council on the campaign homepage.

Flowers on the Edge: The Cutting Edge

Its been three weeks since we launched our 'Flowers on the Edge' campaign to help save our road verges and the wildlife they support and the response has been immense.

We've received almost two and a half thousand signatures on our petition so far and it seems your voice has been heard - councils have been contacting us, asking for guidance on how to improve their mowing practices and help conserve our road verge wildlife.

Thank you also for all your stories and photos. We've received too many to print here, but we can provide a taste. First of all, a classic example of what we've been campaigning against. Responding to our call for 'Before' and 'After' photos, Andy Williams of Monmouthshire tweeted us the following:

@andy_tyfelin: @Love_plants Maybe you can help me persuade Monmouthshire CC. This taken today: hundreds of kms treated like this:

Attached was a couple of photos of the B 4293 nr Little Cophill Farm, Chepstow. One before...

And one after...

The difference is stark.

That said, it wasn't all bad news. As we're keen to point out, some councils do an exemplary job and many are now contacting us to find out how things can be improved. Here's a few positive posts we received on Twitter:

@sysengshep: Swindon BC have just NOT mowed the bit of verge near my house that I've been trying to let flower:

@leighbgbf: @BridgendCBC (Bridgend Council) Thank you for not mowing all the roadside verges & letting the beautiful wildflowers flourish

@SebInTransition: This verge in #Stroud was left while others were mowndown:

As you can see, we can make a difference! If you've not already done so, please visit our Road Verge Campaign site here and sign the petition and please keep your photos coming!

We'll have another Flowers on the Edge: The Cutting Edge update this time next week.

Flowers on the Edge

Posted by Dr Trevor Dines

Plantlife launched our campaign ‘Flowers on the Edge’ yesterday morning on BBC Breakfast… and the response has been terrific. But one in particular interested me – it was from Mike Jones at the Local Government Association quoted on the BBC website.

"However, councils must strike the right balance between road safety and wildlife," he said.

We agree, and many do already.

"Keeping road verges well maintained ensures that motorists have a good line of sight and allows pedestrians to walk more safely alongside busy roads.”

Yep, agree again.

"It also prevents weeds and foreign species from spreading into private gardens."

I wonder what Mr Jones thinks of when he says weeds?  Cheerful dandelions – wide open, mini sunshines; round, yellow plates of food for pollinators? OK, we know dandelions aren’t popular with everyone – let’s try again.  How about ox-eye daisies?  Or bright blue speedwell (the name just shows how long it has been on our waysides) or glossy buttercups, delicate ladies’-smock, red and white campions or the froth of cow parsley?  Violets, primroses and cowslips?  Are these weeds or wild flowers?

BUT, if we carry on repeatedly mowing our road verges and leaving the cuttings then yes, you will lose these wild flowers and end up with an abundance of coarse grasses – the equivalent of green concrete to wildlife.

The second part of the point is also interesting – mowing verges prevents foreign species from spreading into private gardens.  Most gardens are full of foreign species – even plants we think of as integral to the classic cottage garden, such as lavender.  The flip of that is that most garden centres are full of what are really wild flowers - foxgloves, hellebores or fritillaries for example.  And of course not forgetting the classic box bush, whiich is under threat in the wider countryside - its natural home.  Here’s another stat – more than 60% of invasive plant species causing problems in the countryside originate from gardens…

But coming back to road verges.  Safety is one thing.  The seemingly wanton destruction of a vital and beautiful part of our natural heritage is another.  With 97% of meadows gone, do we really want to erode the ribbons of what’s left, cut, by cut?  Ironic when you think of the current vogue for wild flower meadows in our gardens.  Let’s join the dots… A well managed, flower-rich road verge is the linear equivalent of a wild flower meadow.  And it’s just there by the roadside for us all to enjoy…

Britain’s countryside.
Save it with flowers.

• Visit our campaign page

Flowers on the edge

Road verges are close to many peoples’ hearts. In fact, Plantlife receives more enquiries about them than anything else, from both our members and non-members frustrated and upset when their favourite local flower-rich verge is mown to within an inch of its life.

In response we felt moved to launch our 'Flowers on the Edge' campaign. Road verges are the bank we should all be investing in. They give so much pleasure: we pass them every day, colourful slivers of countryside in towns, or vital sanctuaries for wildlife in an intensively farmed countryside. Whilst there are only 85,000 hectares of flower-rich grassland left, there are about 238,000 hectares of road verge in Great Britain. They are literally on our doorstep.

A road verge in North Wales. Photo by Pierino Algieri.

Yet so often, this vital habitat is mismanaged and under attack; cut too early when still in flower, sprayed off with poisons as ‘weeds’ and smothered with cuttings so leading to the loss of diversity as nettles, coarse grasses and cow parsley take over. As the floral diversity disappears, so both its value for wildlife and its beauty vanishes.

So please help us do something about it. Visit our campaign page here and sign our petition, send an email to your council, rate your local verges or simply send us a lovely photo. Together we can change things for the better - for our wildflowers and the wildlife they support.

• Visit our road verge campaign website