Get Involved
English

Flintshire in Flower

Our Approach

We now have over 150 sites across Flintshire which are managed for wildflowers and pollinators. Approaches to wildflower areas have varied across Local Authorities. There is evidence supporting a range of methods. Within Flintshire we have a range of sites including the following:

  • Naturally diverse sites – where management has been amended on site to protect the existing wild seedbank
  • Urban created/enhanced wildflower sites (seed, turf or plug plants)
  • Reduced mow

These are all of huge benefit to our pollinators. Urban wildflower sites are particularly beneficial as they provide stepping stones of habitat in the landscape, help communities re-connect with nature and have high aesthetic value.

You may have spotted our wooden Nature Area signs which are being installed to highlight areas which are being managed for nature. We have invested grant funding in new cut and collect machinery and a non chemical weed control system, currently in use by our Countryside rangers and Streetscene teams.

Our wildflower sites are usually managed through one cut and collect a year between August and October. It is essential that cuttings are collected and removed. This reduces fertility and subsequently; the ‘vigour’ of the grasses year on year, which favours the continued establishment of perennial flowering species.

We only have 1% of our traditional meadow habitats remaining in the UK. This is devastating for a habitat which is one of our richest in biodiversity. But this is also the reason we need to focus on habitat restoration going forward. Managing our grassland habitats in the right way ensures that we not only support our pollinators but restore an ancient natural habitat and protect our native wildflowers.

Flintshire Wildflower Sites

Why we need wildflowers

  • Wildflower areas and meadows provide an important habitat for insects, birds and mammals and establish natural connections through our urban areas.
  • Wildflowers create a nicer place for walking and recreation. It looks nicer and spending time in a natural place is proven to make people feel calmer.
  • Increasing natural vegetation can help reduce pollutants in the air. Natural vegetation growing in an urban setting can increase deposition of air pollutants from the air onto the surfaces of the plants, making air cleaner to breath.
  • Natural areas can help reduce surface water flooding. Heavy rainfall can be absorbed into the permeable ground and by plant root systems which all reduces the amount and speed of water movement.
  • Natural areas are important to help slow the impacts of climate change. Its not just trees which absorb carbon. Growing vegetation and its root systems absorb carbon from the atmosphere and stores it as biomass.

Wildflower loss

  • Wildflower meadow habitat has reduced by 99%, changes in management, infrastructure, other development and farming practice are all part of the reasons behind the decline.
  • Unfortunately the small areas of grassland we have left are often managed in a way which reduces diversity and value for wildlife.
  • Most of our grassland sites have been managed intensively over many years, under a programme of regular mowing (with grass cuttings left on the ground) this causes grasslands to become nutrient rich.
  • High nutrient levels favour the growth of rough grasses which outcompete wildflowers, gradually the wildflower seedbank in the ground reduces.
  • Lots of less colourful wildflowers are also important for pollinators e.g. ribwort plantain.

The importance of pollinators

  • Nearly 90% of our wild flowers rely on insect pollination and approximately 80% of our food crops. 1 in every 3 mouthfuls of our food needs an insect for pollination.
  • The importance of our insect populations cannot be overestimated, they form the basis of our ecosystems and ecological processes.
  • We’re not just talking about bees, in the wild our pollinating insects include; moths and butterflies, flies, wasps, beetles and bees.
  • They are facing many threats including; habitat loss and degradation, pesticide use and a changing climate.