Lying to the west of Stroud, ponds and meadows are being enhanced in four areas across Stonehouse, as well as creating new green spaces within the town.
Work will include enhancing habitats in a greenspace that hosts an important population of great crested newts, to provide a greater area in which they can breed. Elsewhere a dipping platform is being restored, allowing local communities to enjoy and learn about the pond and the species which live in it.
Concrete pads are being replaced with wildflower banks, seeding biodiversity and helping pollinators.
Signs of success
After the hard work of the residents of Boakes Drive and our project contractors Ecosulis in the winter, it was great to see a good amount of yellow rattle, common mouse-ear and cut-leaved cranesbill in flower on the green.
Newly sown meadows take time to establish and will improve year on year with good management and these early signs show real promise of more to come. Yellow rattle is particularly good to see, this flower parasitises grasses, weakening them and reducing their growth, this gives wildflowers more space to flourish. On site like this where grasses have previously dominated the area, a good amount of yellow rattle could hold the key to future success.
Wildflower planting at Boakes Drive green
With the help of local residents and our project partners Ecosulis, Boakes Drive green has been planted up with wildflower seed in November 2019. To make this possible the day started off with volunteers helping to prepare the ground by scarifying the ground and raking off fallen leaves and grass cuttings. This is done to give the seeds bare ground in which they can begin to grow without competition with the grasses that are already present.
After all the work and as the sun was low in the sky, the meadow had been scarified, raked and seeded with wildflowers. The seed mix has a large quantity of yellow rattle seed. This is a species which parasitises grass species, reducing their growth giving other wildflowers greater growing space. This process takes time and we encourage people to be patient. Wildflower meadows take a few years to establish and we will be carrying out carefully management through cutting at appropriate times and extra seeding should it be required to give this meadow the greatest chance of success.
