Council ‘gets a battering’ as Packham slates mown meadow
CHRIS PACKHAM has been accused of contributing to a Twitter “pile on” after criticising a council that mowed over wildflowers on a picnic area.
Derbyshire Dales district council said it received a “battering” online after it cut down wildflowers near Arc Leisure Centre in Matlock this month.
The council said it only mowed one section of the meadow, which was used by picnickers during the pandemic, but was met with fury by residents and environmentalists.
Officials claimed Packham, the presenter of BBC Springwatch, was among those who “piled in” with criticism, but the naturalist denied the assertion.
“I merely reported that you had destroyed a meadow in a time of crisis”, he told officials online. “And leaving some around trees where it couldn’t be cut anyway is no excuse; you should have left it all. Just break the mould and be accountable for your mistake”.
The row broke out when Little Green Spaces, an environmental project, highlighted that the council had mowed the meadow into a “lifeless” state. The group said online: “This was to be a tweet praising Derbyshire Dales for letting a beautiful meadow grow on a steep slope at Matlock’s leisure centre.
“Yesterday [there were] at least eight wildflower species; bumblebees; swifts overhead. Tonight, all gone: mowed into lifeless ‘neat & tidy’,” it said.
Mr Packham retweeted the post and described the situation as “maddening”.
He asked on Twitter: “When will we learn? Who is responsible and why has this happened? There is a biodiversity crisis and we are all getting sick of excuses for this sort of vandalism”.
Derbyshire county council defended the mowing of the area. It said: “We’ve taken a bit of a battering on social media recently over our No Mow May site near Arc Leisure, Matlock – even the naturalist Chris Packham has piled in.
“When national groups with a huge social media following decide to knock you down, you really are on a hiding to nothing, but we believe that local people will understand what we have been trying to do with this piece of land.”
It added: “Although we did mow part of the site, other areas have been left for pollinators – as our photos show.
“The only reason wildflowers bloomed there this spring is because we [took] the decision to delay mowing the area to participate in the national No Mow May campaign, which allowed pollinators to thrive on the site.”