www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

This morning I walked my dog along the verge near my house where there were pyramidal orchids, ox-eye daisies,bird's foot trefoil and various vetches growing in abundance. The area near the road is always cut back for road safety purposes but a large area (about 250 feet by 30 feet maximum) is normally left as it does not affect visibility at the adjacent cross-roads. In previous years there have been Essex and small skippers, common blues, brown argus, marbled whites and meadow browns on the land.
With the awful weather in April, May, and June, butterflies are in need of all the help they can get. However, they cannot rely on the Isle of Wight Council who earlier today mowed the whole area to within an inch of its life. Perhaps Wimbledon is planning another outside court here.
I despair of the attitude to wildlife in this country.
Ian

I share your frustration about this Ian! Why can't they just leave it alone - they've recently cut back all the verges on my route to work and it's such a waste. I can understand mowing the approaches to round abouts and junctions but why along a straight bit of road? I looked at the verges the other day and amongst the tall grasses were large numbers of wildflowers and now nothing

(try to) Have a goodun

Wurzel

There are too many obsessively tidy people in the world - who seem to think their way is the ONLY way and attempt to dictate to the rest of us. (I'm a victim of tidiness fascism at work ) Manicuring the verges and hedges is a symptom of this. Nature isn't tidy - imposing unnatural order on it eventually destroys it.

Dave

This obsession with 'tidiness' costs many millions of butterfly lives. It's ironic that if we see somebody with a net we get all apopleptic, yet rarely complain about the massacre of prime habitat for nothing more than needless cosmetic reasons.

I was reading about management of Brown Hairstreak habitat recently, and a recurring theme was that relating to encouraging farmers/councils to think again about their practice of hedge trimming. Many of these hedges do not protrude on roads/footpaths; instead they are maintained purely because the owners feel it simply looks better. There's absolutely no trade off in practical terms.

just a thought, would these verges affect hayfever sufferering drivers? i saw a statistic of one in four people suffer. probably not but thought i'd throw it in to the discussion.

i also saw this during my googling
http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/loc ... -1-3933535
http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/loca ... -1-3945394

I picked up the link below on twitter a few days back.

http://www.plantlife.org.uk/roadvergeca ... 1g.twitter

Worth a few minutes to have a read and sign the petition.

Neil F.

Good link that, Neil.

I have added my name to it.

Great link Neil, all signed up and confirmed.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Yes a very worthwhile link, I have signed up
I often wonder whether the council operatives who actually do the verge cutting know what they are doing? Do the council have a specific method for cutting verges or are the operatives left to their own devices?
I am sure it is easier for the man with the mower to turn his headphones up and just cut the whole lot down without thinking about it too much, rather than work to a plan where some of the areas are left uncut. Unfortunately it is a sign of the times that most jobs carried out by contractors and operatives are done as quickly and as cheaply as possible

David M wrote:Good link that, Neil.

I have added my name to it.

Thanks for that , my wife and I have both signed the petition.
Ian

Signed also, defiantly worthwhile. Especially when a few years ago, there was a wildflower area put in a long a roadside verge and an housing estate nearby to try and brighten up the area and cut down on local crime there and boost peoples moods (it wasn't a great area to be in) and the wildflower area in the estate still remains but sadly, the wildflowers got removed from the roadside and replaced with garden plants like laurels..now how is that better?? Before it was taken away, I remember people saying how nice it was to see the wildflowers.

I remember a couple of years ago there was a site that had a Babington's leek (Allium ampeloprasum babingtonii) a rare plant now in NI, and it was mowed and cut and now no longer exists there.

Defiantly need to do more. They know not to disturb hedgerows when birds are nesting to protect them, but how can you really protect the bids if the insects they need, feed on wildplants that are mowed like this or roadsides are seeded with just grass?

I agree with everybody about cutting the grass, but recently when i was on Exmoor the edges were so high we couldn't see a thing. We'd looked forward to seeing the ponies and every thing else, but there were very few gaps in these huge edges to see anything. By the time you got to a gate driving passed you managed to catch a glimpse of some thing . Even on the Moors, there was very little wild life to see. The roads were too narrow to park . It seems where a good cutting would do alot of good they neglect it, and then cut in stupid places like Round abouts where the grass could be left to grow.
My husband has a good sense of humour it made him laugh when he saw them cutting side ways along the hedges so cars could pass more easily, then leaving the tops to grow and not touching them, they were over nine ft tall in some places, a sheer waste of Petrol driving around that day , needless to say we never went back.
I signed a Petition recently on the computer and since then I've been unindated with E-mails from every where , no matter what the cause I'll write to my local coucil first I think. Goldie

Goldie had been:

been unindated with E-mails

Wonderful Spoonerism.

Link Spoonerism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism

Hack Jarrison

Hee Hee! sharp eyes Jack

Just to put minds at rest, I signed this petition a few days back and have not had any problems as a result.

Neil F.

On a newly created sloping verge nearby blackthorn quickly colonised. It was around then I started seeing the odd Brown Hairstreak in the garden. Of course the suckering Blackthorn was cut relentlessly. Last autumn at the risk of looking a bit mad I examined the Blackthorn and found a good sprinkling of eggs. I asked a Butterfly conservation member if there was anything to be done and they advised contacting the Somerset wildlfe Trust who have somene who deals with this. As it was all done by messages I was suprised and delighted to find it untrimmed this year.

However, passing by in the car, my elderly passenger started on about what a dreadful mess it looked! I don't know whether it was to save her or my embarressment but I just explained it was for the butterflies, without claiming responsibility! She seemed quite happy with that. I expect she is like many people to whom untrimmed = neglect/laziness.

Glad to sign the petition - its a change because its the the brigade who like to see the countryside well manicured who do most of the complaining.

The problem for the local authorities is trying to strike a balance between the needs and wants of the people who live within their county. On top of that there are legal obligations for local authorities to ensure that the roads remain in a safe state.
I work for East Lothian Council and up here verge cutting is contracted out to the local farmers. They are meant to cut one cutter's width along side the roads three or four times a year and then in September they do a more extensive cut of most of the verge width. The idea is that the taller wild flowers won't flop down over the road in rainy weather, but they are left to seed further from the road's edge. Our Biodiversity Officer tried to get the farmers to keep their cutters at an angle so that the grass is shorter next to the road to allow more flowers to survive. However, this seemed to be beyond the abilities of the farmers and they continue to cut a short verge.
Not too many years ago the verges used to be sprayed to knock out the broad-leaved weeds.
I look after public access and if I don't arrange for edges of the paths and rights of way to be cut I get no end of complaints. I often save caterpillars from the edge of paths when I know they are going to be cut!
I think your best bet is to write to the relevant department in your local authority and try to campaign to have the verge-cutting regime changed. Of course if it is the trunk roads then they will be looked after by whatever national authority looks after them in your part of the UK. We recently arranged to have some sections of the verge of the A1 pegged out and removed from the cutting contract because of the discovery of bee orchids (a real rarity here).
I am lucky as I work within the Countryside Department of East Lothian so I am able to influence some of the work that is done. However, we also have many local worthies who regularly contact us to inform us of how things could be done better and we do listen and act upon their suggestions when we can.

Thanks Nick for your very helpful advice.
Ian

I was at a caravan park a few years ago when men came and cut along side the edges and left the tops high. We were left to pick up the birds who had cut wings and one was minus a foot, Surely it would have been better to trim the tops and allow the birds an escape route. Also, i'm not against signing petitions for anything that will help wild life and conservation, it was just my luck to get picked up and receive e-mails. Yes Jack, I was well and truely spoonfed i had no intention Neill of trying to put people off signing the petition i just stated (my) experience. Sorry if this offended so many. Has for people who complain liking things tidy, I'll give everyone a glimpse at my Garden, my neighbours all have there fronts and back gardens pebbled, that's their choice! I'm noted for being abit on the wild side because I care for conservation I assure you one thing I'm not is a stuffed shirt( is that another spoonerism ) Old maybe, Quiet! Never Goldie M

Hi Goldie,

Don't worry, I was not offended by anything that you said, we all have our viewpoints and sometimes miss perfectly valid alternative views such as those put forward by yourself and Nick Morgan.

All the best,

Neil F.