Hopefully, you will have noticed the abundance of flowers on the verge outside the Recreation/Football field in Castle Lane. A small team has invested a good deal of time and effort getting to this stage and there is now a wiggly path through, in between the blue poles, so it is easily accessible to walk along and be plant and wildlife detectives. Biodiversity is definitely on the increase! The area has been seeded with wildflowers again this year and we hope that, with time and continued effort, the variety of plant and animal life will increase further.

Our second site, alongside Chapel Green/Bowey Bank, has been severely affected by both weather and human intervention. This spring comprised extended periods of wetter and colder weather than normal, so the grass has developed faster than the flowers we have planted. Unfortunately, whilst attempting to trace the water leak onto Lower Street, a contractor has mistakenly strimmed about half our managed section. Since then we have removed a large quantity of cut material both from the bank and the waterway, which should aid the recovery of the wildlife.

We have taken this opportunity to refine our approach to this particular site so you should notice more colour and less unruly green in the future.

Earlier this year we had kindly been donated funds from both the VCG and Supper Club to purchase wildflower plug plants to supplement our ‘home produced’ supplies. These had duly been planted during the last couple of months. Unfortunately, it is very likely that some of these plants have been damaged and had yet to set seed. We hope that some will return next year but we will have to wait and see.

Please be assured that we will do absolutely everything we can to mitigate /repair the damage that has recently occurred and we wait with bated breath to see if the wildlife will recover to its previously very abundant levels.

The Wildflower Project Team