Why roadside verges are important and what you can do

[Network Admin]

Road verges cover a huge area in the UK and are home to over 700 wildflower species as well as creating a habitat for many animal species. As long strips of land they also connect areas together, creating corridors for wildlife to move through the landscape. Roadside verges are rarely disturbed and the soil can be nutrient poor. With good management, roadside verges can enable existing wildflower populations to thrive. However, many are now left uncut or cut too often and plant species are disappearing. We think more verges could be managed to support biodiversity.
What you can do…
Contact your Council if you think they could be managing your local verges for their wildflowers and wildlife.

Councils will care what their own residents think, so let them know if this is something you care about. Use this to try to get your own Council to change! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZFPxr1 ... Tr&index=1

Join a local community group whose volunteers can help the Council manage their verges better.
Read about a great pilot project in North Devon set up to identify, adopt and manage roadside verges for the benefit of both wildlife and people. There are also several useful downloads to get you started.
https://www.tarkacountrytrust.org.uk/love-b.html

For a general introduction and some examples, see https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife ... s-wildlife

If you want to restore your local roadside verges, check out this wonderfully simple explanation for managing roadside verges for wildflowers and wildlife from Plantlife. https://www.plantlife.org.uk/applicatio ... ingles.pdf