FLOWERS ON THE VERGE

Intensive farming methods have meant that wildflowers have fewer places to flourish as meadows vanish. Ever resourceful, flowers now spring up along the side of roads, turning verges into mini meadows.

The wildflower charity Plantlife is campaigning for local councils to manage their verges better to encourage more of this. Its advice is to stop mowing highway verges and let things go wild. Councils in Oxfordshire, Shropshire and Dorset have already stepped up, and some roadsides now brim with yellow rattle and buzz with bees, but plenty more need to do the same for a real impact to be felt.