Buglife has recently completed a project to create new wildflower areas in Richmond and the surrounding countryside- twelve years on from a previous project in the area.
Nearly 5 hectares of wildflower-rich habitat has been created across 10 sites from the North York Moors to Kirkby Stephen – including at Lady Serena Park and Richmond School in Richmond, Kiplin Hall and Hipswell Cemetery, and a whole field near Kirkby Stephen. The Coast to Coast B-Line project worked with established local community and volunteer groups to deliver the work, thanks to funding from Natural England as part of the Coast to Coast Path National Trail’s Wider Benefits Programme. This included using locally collected and commercial wildflower seed and plug plants to help revive grasslands that offer little for pollinators, creating bee hotels, planting orchard trees and celebrating pollinators- with local events such as hands on craft, cake decorating and family bug hunts.
The Coast to Coast B-Line project is part of the national B-Lines programme – a network of flower-rich insect superhighways across the UK working to restore pollinator populations. They are designed to reconnect our landscapes, enabling pollinators and other wildlife to move freely, supporting nature’s recovery. Projects have been delivered all across the UK to help pollinators throughout the network, creating thousands of hectares of habitat, delivered by everyone from local authorities to farmers, schools to businesses – and everyone can help, even in their own gardens.
Rachel Richards, Buglife B-Lines Officer, says, “It’s more important than ever that we take steps to help our struggling pollinators. Simply bringing more flowers to our towns and countryside to fill B-Lines is a vital step to helping restore populations of some of our most cherished wildlife. Thanks to Natural England and local volunteer groups, we’re showing what can be done.”
But this isn’t the first B-Lines project in the local area. This recent funding builds on wildflower grassland creation and restoration work undertaken with the National Trust and Richmondshire Landscape Trust in 2013 and 2014 as part of the Restoring Richmond’s Lost Meadows project. Over a decade since work began to restore 20 ha of wildflower-rich grasslands and pasture, the habitat at sites such as the National Trust’s popular Round Howe & Hudswell Woods site, is alive with nature. The sunny, sheltered pasture alongside the Swale continues to provide a valuable local hotspot for bees, butterflies and other pollinators- helped by the work of local cattle grazing.
Seb Mankelow, National Trust Ranger, says, “Last year was our tenth winter of grazing the riverside at Round Howe. The cattle have transformed the grassland for the better, there are many more wildflowers and species that were on the brink of being lost are now thriving. It’s an important habitat where people can experience the joys of nature on the doorstep of Richmond.”
If you’re doing your bit to help pollinators, you can add your own efforts to the over 3,700 dots of wildflower habitat that have been captured on the national B-Lines map – buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines/.
Main Image Credit: Just The Job habitat work at Rufus Woods © Steve Biggs