A biodiversity project will be blooming on a larger scale this year across Denbighshire.
Denbighshire County Council’s Wildflower Meadow project is set to take in a larger season for 2022 following the announcement of additional sites for the environment initiative.
Following the Council’s declaration of a climate and ecological emergency in 2019, this project is part of an ongoing commitment to enhancing biodiversity across the county,
At the end of last year there were nearly 60 Wildflower Meadows project sites, including highway verges, footpath edges, cycleways and amenity grasslands with more sites planned for inclusion this spring.
Following feedback gathered with the support of local members, the project this year has grown to now include over 100 sites managed for wildflower meadow (including the 11 roadside nature reserves). These sites are equivalent to nearly 35 football pitches worth of grassland managed as native wildflower meadows.
Emlyn Jones, Denbighshire County Council’s Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services, said: “The aim of this is to increase biodiversity in line with our declared Climate Change and Ecological Emergency and Corporate Plan priority for the Environment.
“Wildflower meadow management requires there to be no grass cutting between March and August each year, giving wildflowers enough time to grow, flower, and set seed. For these sites, the biodiversity team will monitor the growth and biodiversity improvement monthly and Streetscene will cut a border only around the sites during this time. The sites will then be given a full cut in early September.”
The Council’s biodiversity team will be engaging with residents near the new sites to inform how the project works to benefit and improve the county’s biodiversity.
As well as protecting wildflowers, the meadows are also boosting the welfare of native insects to Denbighshire.
