Wildflower Verges - Blue Heart Campaign

Foxton is now part of the Blue Campaign for the rewilding of Britain. We successfully applied to the scheme which is run through LCC. We have now selected our first Wildflower verge which is on Main Street by the field in front of Hoggett (formerly The Shoulder of Mutton). The verge is now marked by Blue Heart signs.

The aim is to increase the number of native wild flowers species and insect species living in the verge. It may initially look worse before it gets better though, so we don't want to raise expectations in this first year! The timescale is

1. January - designation and putting in the Blue Heart signs

2. March - inform the Grass cutting contractors not to cut the grass on this verge until August.

3. June - Naturespot visit the site and record what species they find. They then advise us what to do to increase the biodiversity.

4. August/September - cutting of the grass, allowing to lie for reseeding (in addition there may be some new planting of seed) and removal of the grass clippings after a week. This reduces the fertility of the soil which encourages flower growth rather than grass.

5. Repeat next year and hopefully see a huge increase in wildflower species, insects and even small mammals such as hedgehogs.