Hello Everyone, You may have seen my recent posts on Facebook groups asking people to join me in a village wide project I’m initiating called “Rewilding Rainford”. I thought I’d use this month’s post to go into more detail as to why I’ve decided to start this project and what you can do to get involved and help nature around your homes. I’ve focused on my home village in this post but a lot of what I have to say is transferable to wherever you are in the country. Why Rewild Rainford?
If you live in this village then you can’t have failed to notice just how incredibly green and beautiful it is, especially in spring and summer. The fact that in ages gone by, we converted a train track that travelled through the centre of Rainford into a public pathway surrounded by ancient trees, fields and rolling grassy knolls, just shows us how lucky we are.
Unfortunately, although everything is green and lush, we still have a problem providing a good environment for some of our most important inhabitants. I read a fair amount of bee related books (quelle surprise), written by people in years passed. Beekeepers LOVE to talk about something called the ‘nectar flow’ in anything they write, as it’s pretty much the busiest and the most exciting part of the hobby.
The nectar flow is the time during the year when a large collection of flowers in the area have a synchronised bloom and produce nectar and pollen to attract pollinators, with the end goal of reproduction. These flows are when pollinators have an abundance of food, meaning that they too can reproduce. Most honey that we beekeepers sell is made during these flows, hence why we pay very close attention to them. Generally, in the UK we have two nectar flows, one in Spring (Late May-Early June) and in Summer (Later July-Mid August). You may notice that these flows also coincide with a lot of bird’s nesting times and in turn a lot of insectivore predators' brooding periods too. Everything is connected in nature and it starts with flowers and plants in general. Now in a lot of these bee books that I’ve been reading, I’ve noticed that they all talk about how their nectar flows lasted months at a time. They had so much honey to sell that they were practically giving it away. Last year in Rainford we had two nectar flows and each only lasted around a week and a half, barely any time at all for pollinators to fill up with sugary goodness and then fly off to find a mate. It was hard enough for a colony of 50,000 bees to find enough food, imagine how hard it must be for a solitary bee, some of which are our most endangered species! It got me wondering: “What has changed in the past 30-40 years that has drastically reduced our nectar flows?”.
The main reason for it is the modernisation/industrialisation of farming. In the 70’s-80’s we still had a lot of ‘little’ fields growing lots of different crops, surrounded by hedge rows and rough “wasteland” along the field edges, filled with wildflowers and “weeds”. With the technology of the day, it could take weeks (even months!) to harvest all of these fields, meaning that pollinators had more time to collect the food they needed to thrive. There was also a habit to let fields go to fallow to let them recharge for the following year, providing even more homes and food for wildlife.
These days we don’t have many little family farms in the UK, we have large corporate farms where “time is money”. This means that they’ve dug up the hedgerows to turn the “little” fields into vast spaces. They fill all of this land with a single crop, losing the nutrient diversity that pollinators need. The crops go right to the edge of the land meaning that there is no waste and no wildflowers. With the monster machines available now, a lot of these fields can be stripped of crops in days. Once stripped, the fields are then sprayed with fertiliser and manure to top it up with nutrients ready for the next crop, rather than giving it fallow time to recharge.
In Rainford, we only have a few of these problems, or rather they aren’t to the extent as other parts of the country as our farmers seem to be quite aware of their effects to the environment. Also, where we are based, our land is best suited to root vegetables, non-flowering crops and livestock. There was an EU funded subsidy to grow Oil Seed Rape but sadly I think that has since disappeared for the UK since Brexit.
After finding this out, a passing comment that my dad made last summer was brought forward into my mind and lodged there like a particularly annoying Klingon prodding my brain with its bat’leth.
“You really don’t get many bug splatters on your windscreen anymore do you? I remember having to pull over once to give the screen a scrub…”
That morbid statement, although probably said and instantly forgotten by him, set me onto another train of thought. “Is lack of bug splatter on car windscreens an indicator to something bad?” It turns out my dad wasn’t the first to notice this and fortunately they were scientific enough to do some research. The research showed that insect abundance at sites throughout Europe has plunged by up to 80% in two decades! In fact, since the first scientific study, more and more investigations have been completed looking into how this came about and what the effects are. Here are a couple guardian articles filled with links to the studies with some more info: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/car-splatometer-tests-reveal-huge-decline-number-insects
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature
In short, a loss of habitat, lack of food and pollution driven climate change are the cause for the loss of insects, and this has had increasingly negative effects on food chains throughout the world. There’s not much we can do to fix climate change other than try to live a green energy conscious life and by supporting your small farm shops. But habitat and food we can at least help out with.
What can we do to fix this? Right my little eco-warriors, this is where we help our little creepy crawly friends to actually help ourselves.
Rainford, like a lot of villages around the country, is very green in colour from space but it’s not the right kind of green. We have an abundance of pristine, manicured lawns with incredible borders full of evenly spaced flowers with tightly packed petals. We have truly bent nature to our will and our decorative gardens look absolutely stunning.
Unfortunately for nature, it doesn’t do well when forced into this ‘unnatural’ manner. Nature thrives when it’s left to go wild! Now, not for a moment am I thinking of asking everyone to give up their well-loved gardens. I know the benefits of letting our children play on mossy lawns and the pleasure of garden BBQs in Summer but if every household in Rainford converted just a meter strip of their lawns into wildflower meadow in their gardens, think of how much food and shelter that would provide for nature!
This doesn’t exactly mean “right I’m going to help nature by just leaving my gardens alone…”. We’ve unfortunately gone too far down the ‘breaking nature’ end of the scale. Most of our native wildflowers are extremely endangered as they have been completely wiped from our lawn areas. If just left to their own devices, then your lawns would probably only become long grass and only fast-growing common weeds like dandelions would take over the place. This would of course provide shelter and some food, but insects need a good diverse diet, the same as us, so to benefit them you need to reintroduce plants that have been lost over the years.
This involves a bit of work and some high-quality wildflower seeds. The grass, sadly, needs to be reduced to provide space for you to plant these seeds. Grass has a knack of being extremely fast growing and it blocks out the light from the wildflowers, preventing them from getting the fuel that they need to thrive. This can be done by a number of methods which are easily looked up on google, so I won’t bore you more than I need to but simply scarifying or raking the lawn at this time of year generally gives the seeds enough space to grow. A plant called Yellow Rattle can also be spread on the area as it not only provides food for insects, but it also keeps fast growing grasses in check, allowing delicate, traditional species to push their way through. There are more vigorous options such as turning over the land or time involved methods such as placing bin bags over the grassy area (solarisation) for a few months to prevent sun from getting to the plants below.
Once the grass has been cleared or reduced it is time to spread some high-quality wildflower meadow seed. I keep using the term “high-quality” because so many cheap bags of seeds out there are mixed in with fillers such as barley, grasses and sand. They can also be sourced from the continent bringing over foreign species which are damaging to our native flowers. Think grey squirrels … only… plants.
Another problem with cheap bags of wildflower meadow seeds is that they can be harvested unethically by digging up well established ancient meadows just for the seeds, leaving destroyed land behind which can take centuries to repair. Fortunately, this isn’t really an issue in Europe as we have a lot of EU laws protecting our endangered species. I tend to mix the bag of seeds with some garden sand, as it makes it easier to see where you’ve been, and then spread a nice thin layer over the cleared area. It’s then best to water the area with a hose pipe using the fine spray function. The water should ensure the seeds have contact to the soil without washing them all away or drowning them. After that it’s pretty much just a “leave it to its own devices” job. You should start to see some new shoots mid Spring and the flowers should be in full bloom not long after.
Kat enjoys randomly putting bulbs, such as crocuses, amongst our meadow so we can have even more diversity in such a concentrated space. She does this by grabbing a bag of spring bulbs, throwing them across the lawn and planting them where they fall – she says “this way it gives a more ‘natural’ feel to the spread of them rather than accidently planting them in lines. Thank you, Mr. Monty Don, for the tip!”
Finally, a method of keeping the meadow from looking like a mess to those who like a prim and tidy garden is by just mowing around the border or, if it’s particularly large, by mowing a path through your ‘meadow’. It makes it look much more intentional and it’s surprising how much of a difference it can make.
Something else we can improve on is our beautiful borders; It is possible that your borders may unintentionally be filled with flowers that aren’t native to the UK. Unfortunately, many of these are unsuitable to provide food or shelter for the insects we’re trying to protect. Again, I’m not asking you to rip up your Chrysanthemums here, I’m just asking for you to favour some insect friendly, native plants next time you’re at the garden centre umming and arring over how to fill a particular spot near the fence. The easiest thing to notice as an indicator for a pollinator friendly plant is colour. Bees, butterflies and other pollinators LOVE purple flowers.
Kat’s Brother (our ‘head gardener’) states: “Many plants provided by garden centres and seed suppliers are advertised as wildlife friendly and to a certain extent this is the case. Few plants will negatively impact a garden. However, a short flowering/ fruiting season, or a lack of nectar/ challenging flower structures can minimise the help being supplied to insects.
When picking plants to encourage wildlife a good rule of thumb is to look at plants that flower early or late, extending the season for any insects who need a food source. I’m a big fan of Pulmonaria (lungwort) for early flowers that really help solitary bees in particular. These flower for a long period in spring to early summer and fill small, shady areas which are often difficult to cover successfully.
Sedum varieties such as ‘Autumn joy’ offers a late flowering plant option which has a long, late flowering period. They have large clouds of tiny flowers which are all a full of nectar for butterflies, bees and other flying insects.
The rose is a plant that comes in all shapes, sizes and they all help wildlife. I would pick a rose variety that has an open flower shape that allows easy access for insects. Double flower varieties are beautiful but provide much more of a challenge for insects. I think of the ease for insects access and the amount of flowers that are produced when selecting a Rose bush and whether I need it to be 3 ft tall in a pot or 30 ft across covering a wall. Often the ‘wilder’ and more traditional varieties have such flowers and also produce hips (fruit) which are a source of food for animals and birds in the autumn. Obviously I wouldn’t suggest planting a potentially huge rambling rose in a small front garden but wildlife conscious selections can be made in almost every situation. Experiment a little and see what works best for you and your plot.”
The final important thing to help is a water source. Nature loves ponds, and with the right oxygen producing plants it can literally take a matter of weeks for a newly installed pond to get its first inhabitants. Unfortunately, Kat has grabbed onto this idea with both hands and this Summer looks set for me and her brother to finally give in to her large pond idea that she’s been eyeing up for the last two years. I can feel the sun burn and lactic acid already!
What is Myst~Tree Cider & Honey doing to help? I have spent the past six months researching, planning and pretty much pestering as many people as possible with this issue. I have managed to get in touch with the Eden Project Wildflower Trust and am currently organising through Inglenook Farm, Rainford in Bloom and the Rainford Parish Council, to convert acres of land around the village into wildflower meadows. This will hopefully be a long and fruitful relationship which will help all parties involved. I have donated many packets of my wildflower seeds to schools, social groups and some of our local businesses to try and get them all involved. With agreement of the Parish Council, I’m going to be doing a competition throughout the year to find the people in the community who are doing their best to improve local biodiversity and aid our wildlife, with winners being named “Rainford’s Eco-Champions” and getting their green fingered hands on some of my sought after giftboxes. Rules to this competition are still being worked out currently but I’m hoping to have them on my website soon. I am also trying to start a community project to create a garden at the back of Rainford Village Hall where we can all gather to create something beautiful together – watch this space to see if I manage to pull that off. Finally, a short summary of the things you can do to help: 1) Spread the word, get others involved and at least conscious of the pollinator’s plight. 2) Spread some good quality wildflower seeds and allow just part of your garden to ‘go
wild’ – just think – it’s less for you to mow! (check the packets to ensure they’re not
mixed with fillers, such as: grasses, barley and sand). 3) Plant insect friendly plants. 4) Create some safe homes by hanging up some insect hotels and bird boxes. Maybe
even be different and hide some hedgehog huts around the place. 5) Create a small pond in your garden, even a bucket sunk into the ground can work! 6) Talk to your workplace or school to see if they will be willing to create a wildflower
meadow on their land. 7) Do your own research and wow others with your knowledge =) Thank you for reading; I truly believe that this subject is very important to our future.
If you are struggling sourcing your own wildflower meadow seeds then please get in touch with me. I sell 30g bags of ethically sourced, native, high-quality seeds which should cover a space of 5 meters squared and I’ll be happy to provide you with some. I’m always happy to just chat as well so send me a message or leave a comment and I’ll try to get back to you ASAP.
I hope you’re all safe and well, and I'm really looking forward to seeing your rewilding efforts in spring!
Greg
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