Shaftesbury Wildflower Verges

Shaftesbury Neighbourhood Plan, now with Dorset Council for examination, includes an objective to care for our green infrastructure and boost biodiversity. The Town Council is seeking to make a start by setting up a number of trial sites for the seeding of small patches of wildflowers on road-side verges.

The seeds were sown in May rather than March/ April. Just before the lockdown the Shaftesbury Town Council Grounds team prepared four sites across the town. Several weeks later the team had completed sowings in the following trial areas:

Christy’s Lane
Linden Park junction
A strip on the Royal Chase roundabout – South West position
A30 Salisbury Road verge
New Road by the underpass

A different variety of seeds has been sown in each of the locations. Signage in each of the trial areas informs the public that the seeds have been sown. The Town Council invites feedback on public preference of flower type once the growing season is underway next spring (2021).

Planet Shaftesbury is aware that there are already many road-side verges in the town populated with wildflowers. We are supporting the aim of boosting biodiversity by helping to map the location of existing wildflowers on road-side verges so that sites can be appreciated and nurtured by those interested in the town.

As of September 2020 there has been some early success.

The Town Council Grounds’ Team seeded verges on four out of the five trial sites and they are showing a range of colour.

A30 Salisbury Road at the traffic lights junction with Greenacre Way

Here there is a mix of Field Poppies and other species, including Corncockles, Cornflowers, Corn Marigolds dotted amongst them:

South West section of the Royal Chase roundabout

The plot is a blaze of yellow and orange provided by Pot Marigold, Corn Marigold and Californian Poppies amongst other species:

Christy’s Lane/junction with Linden Park

Moving north from the Royal Chase at the junction with Linden Park, the trial plot has a mixture of Poppies and Corncockles but few other species:

Gillingham Road/near A30 Underpass

Heading out to Gillingham on the B3081 under the A30 to Sherborne, there is a good showing of Field Poppies in the trial plot on the left-hand side. There are Cornflowers, Chamomile, Corncockles and other species scattered amongst the Poppies:

In 2021 additional areas are to be planted and those working with the town council now include ecologist Mariko Whyte who is suggesting ways in which the town council can maximise the biodiversity value of the verges.

Recording What You See

The wildflower verges project aims to record the location of the wildflowers throughout the spring and summer using the online “irecord” system provided by the Biological Records Centre. https://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/

The system is open to all with access to the internet by registering on the “irecord” site. There is also an “irecord” App that can be downloaded to your mobile phone. The App allows you to photograph the wildflower, name it, log the location and then upload the record on to the “irecord” database on the internet. This will be adding to a map of the species on our wildflower verges and is a helpful activity any of us can contribute towards whilst out and about e.g. social distance dog walking.

An activity has been set up on “irecord” called: Shaftesbury Wild Flower Verges. Anyone can join the activity and become able to add sightings of wildflowers. The electronic map can be used by all those interested in appreciating wildflowers and it will be available to the Town Council to develop its Biodiversity Policy in the maintenance of green spaces.

Planet Shaftesbury’s contact for this work alongside the town council is John Nelson, email on: nelso64@btinternet.com

iRecord

You can find “irecord” on the internet by simply googling: irecord or clicking on this link: https://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/

If you want to get involved go to “irecord” and register as a user setting up a username and password.

Have a look at the User Guide via Help on the homepage.

From the homepage you can go to the section called Activities and select Shaftesbury Wild Flower Verges – you can join the activity as a member and that will enable you to upload wildflower sightings from your mobile phone into the activity.

You will also need to download the “irecord” App to your mobile phone.

If you want any records (wildflower photos) on your phone to be uploaded into the activity – remember you need to choose the activity on the home page of the App on your phone before you create the record.