Wildflower loss is threat to insects

Some of our best-loved wildflowers are markedly in decline due to the devastation of grasslands including our wildflower meadows, and so too are the thousands of insects that depend on them for food.

With 97 per cent of such habitats having been eradicated since the Thirties, Plantlife, the wildflower charity, is now launching the Magnificent Meadows campaign to protect what is left.

Many traditional meadows and other grassland flowers that were once widespread are now on the Near Threatened list in England, including quaking-grasses, crosswort, field scabious and devil’s-bit scabious.

With 1,370 species of insects relying on our most common meadow plants, the decline of these flowers is not only a catastrophe for the flora, but is also having a devastating impact on the wildlife they underpin.

Samantha Herbert