‘Re-wilding’ the village

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In our village there is increasing concern over the loss of local wildlife. A bunch of people got together and set up a ‘Wild About our Village’ group and so far they have fixed swift nest-boxes to the outside of the church, promoted hedgehog-friendly gardening and convinced the council to leave some of the verges unmown so as to benefit insects and thus birds too. The snag with the verges is that the grass is now very long and looking untidy. And people who maybe thought this would be a good idea and supported it because they imagined swathes of lovely wild flowers would instantly appear, will start to complain that the effect is not what they envisaged and should be scrapped. But this sort of project takes time to get results. Mowing favours grass, which doesn’t mind being constantly cut back, and the grass then takes over and out-competes other plants. And of course for other plants to appear, seeds need to come from somewhere. Some will be already present in the soil, but others will be blown in by the wind or dropped by birds or mammals. It takes time and effort to recreate an attractive perennial ‘meadow’ effect over a shorter period. One way to overcome the initial messiness is to weaken the grass and thus allow other plants to get a foothold. And one way to do this is to introduce a plant called Yellow Rattle, which is a semi-parasite of grasses. I introduced this to our own ‘wild flower’ patch three years ago. I collected a few seeds from a local nature reserve and scattered them in the grass and the next year a few plants appeared. By this year they have spread quite a bit and in some places there is more Yellow Rattle than grass. So now I’m collecting up the seeds from these plants, as well as from other wild flowers in our garden such as red campion, giant knapweed and fox-and-cubs, and scattering them around the verges when I’m walking in the village. It makes me feel a bit like a character from ‘The Great Escape’ as I dribble seeds as I walk along, although I haven’t got them hidden in the turnups of my trousers. Hopefully we will see the results in a year or two, if we can persuade the council to continue with the plan! The picture shows the last few flowers of Yellow Rattle, plus the distinctive seedheads which give the plant its name. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2021.