Many thanks to the Staithes Arts and Heritage Festival committee for another generous donation to the Cowbar Nature funds, via our Buy Me A Coffee page. This is the second year that they have supported us, not just financially, but by carefully organising parking to protect the verges along Cowbar Lane, and all the plants and wildlife living there.
This year we have bought thirty small gorse plants (Ulex europeaus or Common Gorse) and set them on the grass on either side of the car park entrance. They will take a year to establish themselves. As they increase in size and start to flower, they will provide food and shelter for many insects and birds, including yellowhammers and stonechats. The Green Hairstreak, Holly Blue and Silver Studded Blue butterflies use gorse flowers as a food source for their larvae. The flowers provide nectar for several species of bees and butterflies.
Gorse used to be regularly collected from common land and used as fuel for firing bread ovens, fodder for livestock, made into floor and chimney brushes and used as a colourant for easter eggs.
We can also use some of the donation to buy more yellow rattle seeds to increase the number of patches now growing along the south verge. This will eventually lead to a wider range of local native wildflowers being able to flourish as the yellow rattle suppresses the tough grasses.
Thank you very much to the Festival committee for their thoughtful planning and kind donation!