13 years ago, Rotherham, England turned 8 miles of mowed roadside grass into a "river of flowers." In 2021, they added even more miles.
The original scheme was commissioned by Rotherham Council in 2013, designed by Professor Nigel Dunnett at the University of Sheffield, and seeded with a 180-species wildflower mix along the central reservations of the town's main ring road. It replaced mowing that had been costing the council around £80,000 a year.
Since then: the wildflower verges have saved roughly £23,000 to £25,000 per two-year mowing cycle, increased pollinator abundance, and inspired similar programs in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Sheffield.
In 2021, Rotherham added 3.5 more miles across 12 new sites including Herringthorpe, Swinton, Harthill, and Maltby. They just keep expanding it.
The UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows in the last 100 years. Most of what was lost was paved, plowed, or mowed. The verges nobody was using anyway turned out to be one of the largest untapped habitats in the country.
FFS @UKLabour@LibDems and @TheGreenParty - I have voted for each of you at one time or another, but if you can’t get it together to forge strategic alliances to rid this country of fascism then none of you deserve my vote moving forward. Egos aside, brains engaged please!
I strongly suspect some of us were not designed for modern life…
We were meant to live in crooked little cottages, speak to birds, dry herbs from ceiling beams, and dramatically stare out of rainy windows whilst soup bubbled nearby!
Instead…there are emails to be sent.
Help! Homes England and Keepmoat homes are trying to destroy a designated nature conservation site with Barbastelle bats, bluebells, ancient hedgerows and veteran trees. Cllrs refused the application but it comes back next week and officers are trying to push for approval. 🙏
A group of guys, an Englishman, two Scots, and a Welshman aren’t allowed to have a dog according to their landlord. They spot a neighbor walking a dog and decide to email, offering to walk it whenever needed. The neighbor responds… with a handwritten letter from the dog.
There are pretty much countless large parking lots for cars, and installing solar panels over them would generate half the electricity we use.
Not only would this be an efficient use of land, but it would also help keep the cars cooler while parked.
Peter Mandelson got £75,000 for being SACKED from Government.
Not for resigning, not for retiring, for being sacked.
Government is the ONLY job where you will get paid for being fired due to misconduct.
You wouldn't get paid
Change the Law.