On July 2nd, BBC News published an article with this headline: Why are England’s roadsides blooming?. The article goes on to explain that “the UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows in less than a century”, and that “roadside verges are particularly hard hit”. Both statements stem from a campaign by the charity Plantlife, started in 2013 to raise awareness on these often overlooked habitats. One of the aims of the campaign has been to encourage private landowners and councils to change their management practices (“cut less, cut later”) in order to allow wildflowers to re-establish.
Yet the first photo used to illustrate the article is a multicoloured sea of plants that are growing in the wrong place. I can spot non-natives, such as golden tickseed (Coreopsis tinctoria) and California poppy…
Walks, rides and what's there 