The Cowbar verges and bund have been wild and beautiful all summer with a huge range of grasses and flowers flourishing and encouraging more bird and insect life. (See our July 1st 2022 news entry for more details.) Even the thistles, although classed as an invasive weed, have provided food for invertebrates and small mammals and crowds of goldfinches have been feasting on the seeds right up until this week.
This week the bund and verges had their annual mowing, by arrangement with the council, and they look pretty grim. It’s worth a quick reminder of how this fits in to a longer term pattern.
Some facts:
- In 75 years we have lost 97% of our wildflower meadows. This has contributed to dramatic declines in hedgehogs, birds, bats and insects.
- 45% of our native flora grows on roadside verges over 700 species of wildflower, including many which are becoming threatened.
- 40% of our insect species are in decline.
- Having a variety of plant species encourages a wider range of wildlife, including insects, throughout the year.
- The more species rich a habitat is, the more carbon is captured and stored in the soil by their variety of roots.
The bund was built as a barrier to traffic to protect the grassland but we are also trying to manage it, and the south verge, to increase the biodiversity on Cowbar. For this it needs a yearly cut and to have the cuttings (‘arisings’) removed. (You can read more in our Projects section – Verge Management.)
If the vegetation is not cut yearly in autumn, it will rot down to form a thatch which prevents seeds reaching the soil and only allows the more vigorous species to grow through. It will increase the nutrients in the soil – especially nitrogen – which also favours the coarser, stronger plants and we will get less variety. Creeping thistle and coarse grasses will slowly take over and prevent pollinators from finding other wildflowers, eventually swamping them entirely. These plants most definitely have lots of value to wildlife but habitat diversity is even more valuable.
The cut, and collecting the arisings, will enable the flowers which came through on the bund this year to return. After a meeting with the new Cleveland Ranger, Paul Murphy, we are collecting seeds from a range of plants already growing on Cowbar – especially the poppies, vetches, fumitories and trefoil. Birdsfoot trefoil alone is food for over 130 species of pollinator.) Spreading them on verges and bund will encourage variety for next year.
Paul is also going to provide a coastal wildflower seed mix to supplement these and encourage a wider range in the grassland and has suggested introducing gorse bushes to the grassland. More about this to follow on this news page.
We hope that even though the bund and verges are looking empty and bare, drivers will respect the growth cycle taking place and only park in the car park or lay-by when visiting Cowbar.
If you would like to read about verge management in more depth, the sites below are useful:
BLUE Campaign, (bluecampaignhub.com)
Plantlife :: Search Results – a summary of news about positive verge management
Plantlife :: Good Verge Guide: your go-to guide for transforming local verges into wildlife havens
The diagrams below are from an excellent guide to wildflower verges that has been produced by Tarka Country Trust and partners. Click here for the full leaflet.
