Arnside Wildflower Verge Project
The aim of the Arnside Wildflower Verge Project is to restore the biodiversity of the roadside verges in Arnside, and throughout the wider landscape.
Road verges are home to almost half of the UK’s wildflower species (that’s 720 different flowers), many remnants of once widespread flowers found in meadows, fenlands and farmland, long since lost as land-use has changed and farming became more industrial. These grasses/flowers support hundreds of species of pollinators and provide a rich habitat for a range of wildlife including butterflies, bees and insects, spiders, snails, small mammals and birds.
Across the UK there are around 300,000 miles of road verge, which provide a huge network of corridors and refuges for nature.
The Arnside & Silverdale National Landscape are supporting Arnside Biodiversity Group to improve Sandside Road verge, Black Dyke verges, Beechwood and potentially other sites in the village. The largest verge is the 350m stretch along the Sandside Road to the Parish boundary.
A generous grant from Arnside & Silverdale National Landscape allowed the clearing of this site which hadn’t been cut for several years. A major management effort in the autumn of 2023 involved cutting and scarifying, seeding and plug planting. At the same time, spring bulbs of snowdrop, wild daffodil and bluebell were planted in the verge by the recycling centre on Black Dyke Road. One of the objectives of the project is to improve the amenity of the main access roads into the village.
A family planting day organised by Arnside & Silverdale National Landscape in September 2023 – planting and seeding with materials provided by Arnside & Silverdale National Landscape, was carried out on another of the verges on Black Dyke Road.
Progress is slow, and the verges will look untidy at times when the grasses have gone to seed as it will take three or four years for significant changes to show. The weather over the past two winters hasn’t helped, but we will continue to cut and clear the verges and re-seed and re-plant each autumn. We are confident we are on the right lines and will continue to strive to achieve our goals of verges bright with wild flowers, buzzing with pollinators (not just bees!) and a haven for other wildlife.
Species have been selected which reflect the rich limestone grassland and meadows of the Arnside & Silverdale area. Many have been sourced locally, often grown from local seed. Seeding and green hay have also been used to boost the diversity of wildflowers, and management changed to increase the likelihood of a more biodiverse verge network in the future. Species include Autumn hawkbit, Birds-foot-trefoil, Black knapweed, Bladder campion, Field scabious, Lady’s bedstraw, Meadow cranesbill, Oxeye daisy, Red campion, Red clover, Selfheal, Teasel, Wild carrot and Yarrow. Mixed seed including yellow rattle has been introduced to suppress dominant grasses, reduce the vigor and density of the sward, and create space and opportunity for flowers to flourish.
Restoring verge biodiversity can take between 3 and 8 years depending on a number of factors – including what baseline was the starting point, the success of seed germination and plug survival, and weather conditions. We hope that continued improvement over the next few years will become more and more evident.
Thanks go to the staff of Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape – particularly Dougie Watson and Caroline Howard; Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Westmorland and Furness local authority, Arnside Parish Council, Arnside School, the A&S NL volunteers, all the residents of the amazing community of Arnside who’ve supported the project – and most of all the members of the Wildflower Verges Working Group, especially Paul Barnes, who have given of their time and expertise so freely.