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Plugging the Gaps

What is Plugging the Gaps?

It’s a two-year North Pennines AONB Partnership project – funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund – to boost the number of rare wildflower meadows. The North Pennines is a stronghold for this incredibly important habitat, which has been in decline nationally since the 1950s. The project was launched last summer, with 100 or so volunteers signing up.

What do your volunteers do?

Volunteers are trained to collect wildflower seeds from flower-rich sites, propagate them over the winter and then plant out the resulting year-old plug plants. We also need volunteers to help set up and run a new wildflower nursery, and to survey potential planting sites (training for this will be given in early June).

Which species are you targeting?

We are focusing on the most iconic North Pennines wildflowers, including wood crane’s-bill, globeflower, melancholy thistle, lady’s mantle and great burnet. These are all significant species that are rapidly disappearing from our landscape. Volunteers planting wildflower plug plants.

How does the training work?

We run summer seed-collecting days to train our volunteers in harvesting techniques. In the autumn we organise sowing workshops covering seed sorting and cleaning, storage, propagation and germination. We also look at different types of trays, pots and compost, and how to care for the plugs. Volunteers – who are all ages and come from many different backgrounds – can participate in as many as they like.

What are the results so far?

Our volunteers have sown seeds into more than 400 trays, which we hope will establish into some 10,000 seedlings. This autumn, the year-old plug plants will be planted out into upland hay meadows, roadside verges and community spaces, connecting with existing flower-rich sites to create an unbroken network of nectar within the North Pennines.