{"id":15834,"date":"2022-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=15834"},"modified":"2022-05-11T13:53:59","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T11:53:59","slug":"no-mow-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2022\/05\/04\/no-mow-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"No-mow roads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Councils are catching on to the potential of verges for wildflowers<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Meadow buttercup, red campion, cow parsley and even an English bluebell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

THERE IS GROWING INTEREST IN THE value of our road network for nature, which may sound a contradiction in terms. But for a few heady months in spring and early summer, road verges burst into bloom. At least, properly managed ones do. Their potential is obvious Verge-loving wildflowers out in May include cow parsley, red campion, bird\u2019s-foot trefoil, meadow buttercup, cowslip and clover. Then there are the wild grasses, on which many moth and butterfly caterpillars feed.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

A recent study at the University of Exeter estimated that road verges in England, Wales and Scotland represent just over 2,500km\u00b2 of grassland habitat. Plantlife, meanwhile, says that verges contain 80 per cent more grassland than the open countryside, most of which is farmed (much of it intensively).<\/p>\n\n

The statistics are impressive \u2013 and councils are at last starting to take notice, with more developing wildflower-friendly late-mowing regimes, cutting only the kerbside portion before September. Picking up the cuttings is also key \u2013 leaving them boosts soil fertility so that vigorous species proliferate, swamping others. <\/p>\n\n

BH <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Councils are catching on to the potential of verges for wildflowers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":15833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"16","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"16","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_16-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_16-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_external_id":"May-2022-16-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"May-2022-16-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087231||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087231||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.491","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.491","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.491","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.491","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-05-06T07:42:39Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"a9bc69ac-a89b-4780-8e43-b0f3b48c34db","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-05-11T11:54:04Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AqbxprKibR4COQ7DztIw02w","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556.jpg",1561,1664,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556-281x300.jpg",281,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556-768x819.jpg",768,819,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556-961x1024.jpg",800,852,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556-1441x1536.jpg",1441,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/04\/0bbf7f20-9086-46c6-92f9-8d0f551bb556.jpg",1561,1664,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Councils are catching on to the potential of verges for wildflowers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16499,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834\/revisions\/16499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}