Denbighshire Life on the Verge Newsletter | Summer 2014
In the beginning In early 2013 Helen Melvin and Jenny Briggs were walking in the lanes around Bodfari and were ap- palled to see how any eau ful wild owers had een destroyed y the County Council’s early cut. Helen set up an on-line pe on at Change.org which was signed y over 600 people. Meanwhile Jenny found that there were also any like inded local people and so for ed a group to work with and per- serve ture e suade Den ighshire County Council to anage the side Na ch oad Allt Go verges ore sensi vely. Me ers of Bont yr this group and their a lia ons are listed elow. will, without co pro ising pu lic The aims safety, preserve valua le nes ng The group’s long ter ai is for i - sites and nectar sources for polli- prove ent in the wildlife anage ent na ng insects whilst s ll conserving of verges – specifically one cut per year wild owers and increasing the seed and as late as possi le, certainly not ank. un l id July at the earliest. In this way wild owers are allowed to set What we are doing and seed and nes ng ees and other wild- what we have achieved life are le undistur ed for longer. De We are ca paigning at oth local ad ne le and na onal levels and have et with senior o cers fro Den igh- shire County Council in Autu n 2013. Me ers decided that they were not prepared to alter the cu ng regi e throughout the whole county ut were prepared to e tend the e is ng oadside Verges Project to interested Co unity Councils. As a result, iodiversity sta in the County Council, who are also e ers of the group, have e arked on a pro- gra e of visits to the following Co unity Councils and this is on-going: ee Bu le Bodfari Llanferres Nantglyn Verges and railway e ank ents are currently one of A erwheeler Llandyrnog Dyserth the largest areas rela vely una ected y pes cides and, as we all know, pollina ng insects are under con- Tre eirchion, Llangynhafal sidera le threat. More sensi ve anage ent of verges Cw & Waen
Join us at Facebook.com/grassverges or search ‘Denbighshire Life on the Verge’ These par cular areas have een chosen largely as a result of pressure fro e ers of the pu lic. We have een successful in Bodfari, A erwheeler and Dyserth where the verges are, on the ajority of roads, currently ourishing.
B ryneg lwys road v erge
le In addi on we have wri en to a nu er of newspa- p ne He pers, which sparked o a lively de ate in the Den igh- shire Free Press. An ar cle en tled n the Verge of a Crisis’ was pu lished y The North Wales Wildlife Trust. We set up a Face ook page – Den ighshire Life on the Ar cles have also appeared in the Den ighshire Free Verge – to which Karen oden has contri uted any Press and the County Council newsle er County Voice’. interes ng links to relevant sites.
How you can help!
Write to Denbighshire County Council to complain when you see verges macerated but also to con- gratulate and thank them when they have obviously managed the verges sensitively. Perhaps the most important and effective thing that you can do at this stage is encourage your Community Council to ap- ply to be part of the Roadside Verges Project. Please also contact your County Councillor. If you enjoy using Facebook please visit the site, feel free to add your comments, and to ‘like’ the page.
Members of the group: Helen Melvin – Me er of Pu lic Jenny Briggs – Me er of Pu lic Lizzy We ster – DCC Biodiversity cer Kate Taylor – DCC Senior Biodiversity cer Adrian Lloyd-Jones – North Wales Wildlife Trust Les Starling – North Wales Wildlife Trust and Sustaina le Den ighshire Dr liver Prys-Jones – North Wales Wildlife Trust and Bee Ecologist
Most of the photographs in this newsle er were taken on Den ighshire road verges y Ale ander Falkingha Trainee Warden, Den- ighshire Countryside Service).