Saving wildlife with fields of peas and beans

Dr Trevor Dines
Plantlife Botanical Specialist

It’s not often that I’m rendered utterly speechless by Defra, but last week I struggled to make sense of what I was reading. I genuinely checked that the date wasn’t April 1st. Defra has announced that farmers can now receive public money, originally intended to conserve farm wildlife, for growing crops of peas and beans. The idea is that this will help pollinators.

As I read Roger Harrabins BBC article it got worse. While acknowledging the lack of biodiversity compared to pasture, the National Farmers Union actually provided the following quote: “Anyone with broad beans in their garden will see they are full of pollinators at the moment. Wildflower meadows tend to have quite a limited flowering season but some legumes are flowering from April to June, and others much later in summer. We think including this measure is very positive for the environment."

We think Defra and NFU need to visit a wildflower meadow. This decision clearly demonstrates the lack of understanding that Defra and NFU have of farmland wildlife, a disconnect with the reality of nature and ecology. Just to put the record straight:

• Many wildflower meadows begin their provision of nectar and pollen in February and March with flowers such as primroses, violets and celandines . The supply peaks in June and July and continues into September and beyond with late-flowering knapweed (Centaurea nigra), betony (Stachys officinalis) and devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis). I’d call it a good and varied diet over a very long season indeed. 
• Research indicates that not many pollinators will actually benefit from peas and beans. In her excellent blog on nectar provision by legumes, Lynn Dicks shows that while bumblebees might benefit from beans for a short period, solitary bees are unable to feed from the chunky flowers. For peas, there is less evidence, but some studies show that solitary bees don’t find related clover and alfalfa crops particularly attractive either.
• A meadow sustains a wide range of important pollinators, such as butterflies and moths, beetles, wasps, hoverflies and other flies. Despite the focus of attention at the moment, it’s not just all about the bees. This is a simple ecological lesson; maybe Defra and NFU should study Buglife’s Pollinator Identification Chart.
• It’s also about plants providing food for invertebrates. A field of peas or beans will support just over 40 invertebrate species. A meadow with just nine of the most common meadow flowers, like bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), red clover (Trifolium pratense), knapweed and Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus), can support over ten times this number (422 in total). And remember, all these inverts are what farmland birds feed on; it’s about sustaining the complete food chain from the roots up. 
• With no restrictions on the use of pesticides and fertilizers on these crops, these chemicals can be freely applied with consequent effects on wildlife.  So even those 40 invertebrate species are likely to be wiped out, while the fertilizer will scupper any chance for cornfield flowers, like nectar and pollen rich poppies and dead nettles, to grow amongst the crop, further reducing benefits to wildlife. 

The Government's own biodiversity strategy is about the multiple benefits that intact, semi-natural habitats can bring in providing a range of 'ecosystem services'. But Defra are failing to appreciate these benefits. Instead, they seem to be focusing solely on pollinating bumblebees and providing them with a quick, cheap, sugar rush. A bee will feed on a bean flower in the same way that you and I might occasionally eat a MacDonalds, but that’s not a healthy, long-term solution to declining farmland wildlife. And, of course, it does nothing at all for Britain’s declining wild flowers.

The decision also turns back the clock to the headage payments and crop subsidies of yesteryear, something that the government is meant to be moving away from. Since peas and beans are a crop, taxpayers money will directly supplement farm income, rather than supporting wildlife in the public good.

In order to get maximum value from public money, Defra must place the focus of CAP reform back on to semi-natural habitats with their constituent species and the diversity of these habitats in the farmed landscape. This aim should be underpinned with good, evidence-based habitat management. Habitat restoration can’t be rushed, there are no quick fixes, and it should be done with the wild in mind; naturally regenerating set-aside fields can have three times as many nesting bee species as clover fields and arable field margins come from soil seed banks, not from seed packets.  

How any right thinking person can accept that an intensively farmed crop is as good for wildlife as a meadow bursting with wild flowers and alive with all of its attendant birds, butterflies and bees is a bit scary.  There are many alternative and ecologically rigorous measures that could be put in place, perhaps as part of a National Certification Scheme, including ecological set-aside, creation of "buffer zones" for high nature value areas, management of uncultivated strips and field margins and conversion of arable land into extensive low-input grassland. All of these will allow our wild plants to do their thing, bringing colour back to the countryside and ultimately providing food and shelter for all our other farmland wildlife.

We ask that Defra reconsider this decision.

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

Setting Up a No-Mow Zone.

Luke Morton
Plantlife Moderator





"Never ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself" said Eleanor Roosevelt and with that advice in mind, I have decided to take Plantlife's Say No to the Mow challenge by making a No-Mow Zone in my own back garden.

For those who have not heard of it, Say No to the Mow is a bit like a botanical Movember: both involve allowing a hirsute patch to flourish where normally you'd keep it cropped short. But instead of the hair on your upper lip, Plantlife is asking you to spare a small "No-Mow Zone" of lawn from your mower's blades this summer. Then as it begins to flourish, you can download a free ID sheet featuring fourteen key wild flowers and enter which ones you spot online. The results will form a blooming great map of the UK, showing what’s in flower and when.

But first things first: Where should I put my No-Mow Zone? Plantlife botanist (and passionate gardener) Dr Trevor Dines suggested choosing a spot away from the beds.

The grass here has not been mowed since last autumn. As a rule of thumb, the longer its been since you last mowed your patch the more likely you'll get wildflowers. March is a key cut-off month as plants are beginning to sprout for the spring, so any mowing that occurs later could stop some in their tracks.

Now I need to mark it out. Here's what I'll need:

There's no limit to the size or shape of your No-Mow Zone. You could make it the entire lawn or spell out your name. We say the ideal size for a No-Mow Zone is 2m squared, but as I've only a small garden I'm opting for 1m x 1m. Using the tape measure I place a peg at each corner:

With the pegs in place I then apply some string to keep that hungry mower at bay...

A finishing touch: my No-Mow Zone security guard. Would you mess with a gnome like this?

And there it is! Ready to flourish.

Next stop downloading my free ID sheet and adding what pops up to the online map which of the wildflowers pop up.

Joining me and my gnome in Saying No to Mow? We'd love to hear how you're getting on. Share your stories, sightings and photos with us on Twitter adding #saynomow.

• Find out more about Say No to the Mow

Making a Haven for Butterflies and Bees

Ali Murfitt
Events Officer





When you think of wildflowers, what do you see? All too often people think of the countryside - meadows, bluebell woods or country lanes - but there's plenty of places in our towns and cities that can (or could) play host to them too. And where you get wildflowers, you get pollinators too: butterflies, bees and hoverflies. So when the Co-operative asked Plantlife to help it provide a "wildlife makeover" of seven unloved patches of urban land as part of their Plan Bee campaign, it wasn't hard to say "yes please!"

Hundreds of people nominated a patch of unloved, overgrown land in their local area to be turned into a "pollinator patch". The seven winners were then chosen by Co-operative members from across the UK. One of these was at Galston in East Ayshire and in October 2013 headed off to get started. Our mission: to help create a wildflower haven for bees, butterflies and the local community.

© Andrew Macdonald

The land in question surrounds Barrmill Hall, a communal building used by the people of Galston to provide daily activities for children, their parents and carers. When we arrived we were greeted by the very enthusiastic ladies of Galston Babies and Toddlers group and work soon got underway.

The main task was preparing the ground for wildflower seed sowing. In nature, plants generally shed their seeds on earth that hasn't been prepared, but a bit of a rake over increases their chances of germinating successfully by getting them into the ground as opposed to on top of dry or rocky soil. Everyone got stuck in, there were rakes a plenty and lots of muddy boots by the end.


Meanwhile there was apple planting to get on with...

© Andrew Macdonald

We dug fairly deep holes and put in plenty of compost to give them a good start. One was a crab apple, who’s sweet scented flowers bloom in late spring and are loved by bees. Its apples though sour to us are eaten by a variety of mammals and also by birds like the blackbird and thrush. We also planted a Galloway Pippin, a local variety which bears large yellow apples.

© Andrew Macdonald

We weren't just planting apples either. Creating a wildlife haven was thirsty work and the apple juice pressed as we worked by John (and helpers) from Scottish Orchards definitely helped.

It was also great to have Paul from the charity Buglife who came along to give a hand building bee boxes (see photo on the right). These should provide homes for a variety of solitary bees.

The last order of the day was to sow the wildflower seed. All the seed we sowed came from Scotia Seed and is native to Scotland. Some wildflowers are more likely to germinate if you sow them in the autumn as they need a period of cold before they will sprout.

© Andrew Macdonald

With the winter now over, we can’t wait to go back and discover the fresh new shoots of wild flowers. I'm really looking forward to seeing plants such as the delicate yellow flowers of ladies bedstraw, the pink-coloured red campion and - later in the year - the blues of field scabious brightening up that patch of ground and providing food and shelter for pollinators.

We hope that the  our work at Barrmill Hall will not only have a positive impact on the local environment, it will help the local community, providing children with opportunities to explore wildlife and discover the natural world.

Our next work day is on the 16th May, where we will be sowing more seed, planting plug plants, creating a herb bed, and installing more homes for pollinators. Perhaps you'd like to help us? Or aid another pollinator patch in the UK? Plan Bee has buzzing schedule of work days and activities this spring. Find out more on their events page.

Blooming marvellous

Luke Morton

Plantlife Moderator

It might not officially be the first day yet but (whisper it quietly) spring has arrived! Or at least that seems to be the case going by the plethora of gorgeous wildflower photos you've been tweeting us over the last few weeks. Indeed, our wildflowers do appear to be blooming earlier this year and for that you can thank the mild winter. For while we've had the wettest winter on record, much of the UK has barely felt a frost. Celandines, primroses, violets and wild daffodils have all been appearing ahead of schedule. Here's a couple of photos from our Bloomwatch board:

Primroses flowering in Mull posted by @glengormcastle:

Butterbur with a visiting bee, posted by @floodenheim - better known as Peter Q D Flood, drummer with Folk band Bellowhead.

Please keep them coming!

So what will be blooming on this blog over the next few weeks? Well...

• Sue our Wildflowers Count Coordinator will be celebrating the first day of spring.
• Ali from our Scotland team will be buzzing about Plan Bee: our work with the Co-operative to bring wildflowers to urban spaces. 
• At end of the month a ban on five non-native, invasive plants comes into effect - Nicola, our Head of Conservation will explain why this is something we (successfully) campaigned for followed by Dr Trevor Dines' thoughts on how and why we distinguish the bad plants from the good.

In the meantime, if you have a lawn don't forget to Say No to the Mow. See you soon!