The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Wildlife guide’s delight as rare flower he planted finally blooms in city park
DUNDEE: Lack of lockdown mowing gave wildflower chance to flourish
A Tayside man has spoken of his pride at seeing a rare Scottish wildflower bloom in a Dundee park.
Wildlife guide Ian Ford, 71, planted the greater yellow rattle in Riverside Nature Park after gaining a special licence from Scottish Natural Heritage.
He said a lack of council grounds maintenance during lockdown let the rare flower bloom for the first time.
“I thought to myself, this is brilliant. The licence allowed me five years to get it established. It was very exciting to see it growing in the wild for the first time.”
The plant has all but died out in the wild in Scotland. The only other patch is in East Haven on the Angus coast.
Mr Ford said: “It is the first time they have flowered as they should. In previous years they’ve been mown down. I’m frightened to go back and look again in case something has happened to them.”
The distinctive yellow flower has been compared to a canary getting out of bed. It was seen in the past as a weed but, as it weakens nearby grass, the plant helps other wildflowers to bloom.
Earlier this month city chiefs announced plans for 26 biodiversity zones in city parks – thought to be around 20% of the available green space – after publishing its Biodiversity Action Plan in April.
The west end community around the city’s oldest park, Magdalen Green, were the first to submit their positive views on leaving some areas uncut.
Mr Ford, who lives in Kingoodie and is chairman of the Friends of Riverside Nature park, said lockdown had provided a turning point in his work to champion wildlife in urban areas.
He said: “It is a pivotal moment. It has never happened in Dundee this way before.”
Mr Ford has carried out an informal survey of the areas that are allowed to grow under lockdown.
He studied Riverside Avenue opposite
Riverside Nature Park, a grassed area west of Dee Gardens, South Road Park from the west end to Arran Drive roundabout, and grass between Arran Drive and South Road up to the Buttars Loan roundabout.
He said areas with a good management system, where council workers cut the grass annually and removed it, could see as many as 150 different species of plants and insects flourish.
The figure fell to 20 to 30 species in areas that were cut once a year with grass cuttings left behind, and fewer still if the area was regularly mowed.
A Scottish Natural Heritage spokeswoman said greater yellow rattle was “probably introduced from the continent with agricultural grass seed in the early 1700s.
“Like many arable weeds it has declined significantly and has almost entirely died in the wild in Scotland.
“Planting greater yellow rattle in newly-created meadow at Riverside helps to preserve an attractive but little known piece of our agricultural heritage for posterity.”