Leave those blooming verges alone
A campaign calling on Stirling Council bosses to change their approach to grass cutting has been backed by Springwatch’ presenter Iolo Williams.
Two petitions have asked the council to alter the way it approaches grass-cutting.
Local environmental organisation On the Verge launched an online petition calling for Stirling Council to manage greenspaces to support nature.
At the same time Stirling Health Food Store owner Josine Atsma launched a petition asking it to manage grass verges for biodiversity.
Their two-pronged campaign has been spotted by Williams, who said: “I fully support these campaigns to bring more wildflowers to Stirling.
“Stirling Council has a legal duty to further the conservation of biodiversity therefore I join the petitioners in calling on Stirling Council to better manage greenspaces to support nature and adopt more wildlife-friendly mowing practices in the parks and greenspaces. This is important because nature is in crisis. I urge them to adopt the recommendations of Plantlife’s Good Verge Guide as standard and work to become a pesticide free town as advocated by Pesticide Action Network.”
Both petitions ask the council to adopt policies to help wildflowers flourish and offer bees and other pollinators a source of nectar.
On the Verge founder Leigh Biagi said: “This spring we have witnessed a rich diversity of wildflowers throughout grassed areas in our city. Normally these spring wildflowers wouldn’t have the chance to bloom as grass cutting starts before their flowering period but this year, as a result of lockdown, they have been left alone to do what they do best: feed the bees and provide a beautiful display in the process.
“Areas which normally offer lots of nectar-rich flowers and good habitat for pollinators now offer little and research shows bees are preferring towns and cities, attracted by our gardens.
“If bees are clever enough to adapt to circumstances shouldn’t we be clever enough to help them by making green spaces in our towns a haven for beleaguered bees?”
Josine said: “Now that the road verges haven’t been cut for several weeks you can see flowers emerging. That’s why I would like to ask Stirling Council to keep the road verges uncut or at least cut fewer times.” Eighty per cent of wildflowers depend on insect pollination and a third of the food we eat is pollinated by insects.
Leigh said: “We certainly aren’t asking the council to abandon grasscutting altogether, simply to plan it carefully to maximise the value of biodiversity, cut grass later, cut it less and time the cuts carefully.
“On the Verge is also calling on the council to collect grass clippings rather than leave them to rot down.”
A council spokesperson said: “We are already consulting the public on changes to this policy, and others, through our climate conversation survey, which launched in March.
“Given the clear strength of public opinion on this one matter, we would be delighted to see the level of response these petitions have received replicated in responses to our own survey, which covers all elements of the environment and sustainability across the whole of Stirling.”
The survey is open all summer at www.stirling.gov.uk/planningbuilding-the-environment/ sustainable-development/climatechange/climate-conversations.
The petitions are at www.change. org/p/stirling-council-keep-thewildflowers-of-stirling-blooming and https://you.38degrees.org.uk/ petitions/keep-road-verges-uncut.