WILDFLOWER MEADOW CUT AT CITY RECREATION GROUND AND VICTORIA PARK – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Over the past 2 years, volunteers helped to plant beautiful wildflower meadows at City Recreation Ground and Victoria Park. In the Spring the flowers started growing and by June they were amass with colour for everyone to enjoy.
To ensure the flowers come up again next year, the wildflowers need to be cut down at the end of the season, after the flowers have all finished. This needs to be followed up by removing the debris.
We are asking for volunteers to meet at the meadow in City Recreation Ground on Sunday 5th September at 10am and at the Victoria Park Bandstand on Sunday 19th September at 10am to help cut the meadow, disperse the seed heads and prepare the area so that next summer it will look beautiful once again.
Planting habitats such as wildflower meadows with wildflowers and flowering plants give a number of benefits including:
- Plant diversity attracts insects and other invertebrates (including butterflies, bees, spiders and millipedes), birds and mammals
- Flowering species add a changing palate of colour to the urban environment throughout the seasons
Cllr John Gage, Chair of the Green Spaces Working Group, said, “The wildflowers at City Recreation Ground and Victoria park were such a delight to see and have taken really well. It was a pleasure to see that so many people could enjoy the flowers.
He added, “The wildflowers helped to attract beneficial insects into the area. In turn these insects help to fertilise our crops to grow produce for us to eat and the insects are food for other wildlife. So come along and bring your sickles and scythes on one of our volunteer days and join in”.
The regular cutting of the wildflower meadow area will ensure that they come up year after year and we should then see more butterflies, bumblebees and other insects. We would encourage anyone with an interest in bio-diversity and wildflower planting, or if you just want to have a go, to come along and help”.
Contact:
Cllr Jon Gage, Chair of the Green Spaces Working Group Jon.Gage@newbury.gov.uk
James Heasman, Parks & Open Spaces Officer James.heasman@newbury.gov.uk 07775 434475
