The ecologist who hatched a simple but effective plan to bring more moths and butterflies into our lives, on creating the right conditions for wildflowers to thrive. <\/p>

Phil Sterling is a man on a mission \u2013 to convert every motorway embankment, every roadside verge, every unloved patch of grass in our under-resourced urban parks, even every golf course, into a flower-rich haven for wildlife \u2013 specifically our threatened populations of moths<\/a> and butterflies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit like Christmas every time you open a moth trap and see how many species there are. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
It is always moths that have been his first love, perhaps because they are so widely misunderstood. He regrets the common perception of moths as annoying little grey things that eat our clothes. In fact, there are only four species out of 2,500 that could possibly be culprits, and only two of these are jumper-munchers for certain. And far from being drab, moths \u2013 especially the day-flying moths, of which there are many \u2013 are often exceptionally beautiful. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like Christmas every time you open a moth trap and see how many species there are, all the different colours and patterns: you\u2019re amazed at what you find.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2018, as he reached his late fifties, Phil landed his dream job \u2013 working for the national charity Butterfly Conservation, offering practical advice on how to plan and manage the built environment to support wildlife<\/a>, particularly butterflies and moths. But in his twenties, a scientist who wanted to work with moths had few choices: most of the job options seemed to involve exterminating them. So Phil took a left turn and became the insect expert on a team engaged in restoring grasslands. This gave him the expertise in habitat creation that stood him in such good stead when he joined Dorset County Council (as it was then) as its principal ecological adviser \u2013 a role in which he reformed the management of the county\u2019s public realm over 25 years, enriching nature reserves and country parks, transforming denatured urban areas by planting trees and changing featureless grass areas into wildflower meadows<\/a> rich in wildlife.<\/p>\n

In a world where biodiversity is in crisis, we need to do things in a different way with our amenity landscapes, making them more permeable to wildlife. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
It was Phil who designed the wildflower banks on the A354 Weymouth Relief Road (built 2009-11) that wow visitors every year with their glorious displays of blooms \u2013 shimmering sheets of yellow in spring (trefoils, hawkbit, cowslips) followed by sumptuous summer purples (including colonies of orchids) dancing with clouds of bees<\/a>, butterflies and moths. It took him a while to realise that people were stopping their cars in the lay-bys not for any emergencies, but to get out and photograph the flowers. \u201cIt\u2019s a very simple formula,\u201d he says. \u201cThe less fertile the soil, the more flowers you get, and the more insects you can support. In a world where biodiversity is in crisis, we need to do things in a different way with our amenity landscapes, making them more permeable to wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standard practice in landscaping schemes is to cover the ground with a deep layer of topsoil, sow a grass<\/a> mix, then plant shrubs and trees, creating a high-maintenance landscape that favours coarse grasses and needs regular mowing<\/a>. But if instead a wildflower mix is sown directly on to a mineral substrate \u2013 mimicking the conditions of our richest grasslands, which always occur on the poorest and thinnest soils (such as limestone and chalk) \u2013 not only do wildflowers thrive, but the need for maintenance decreases dramatically: such grass as does arrive doesn\u2019t grow long, and doesn\u2019t need mowing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe native wildflowers we cherish \u2013 the vetches and scabiouses and knapweeds \u2013 really like being stressed: no nutrients, hardly any water. Compare that with the thistles, docks and hogweeds of this world: if you give these competitor plants rich, fertile soils, they grow big and tall, smothering and shading out all the ones that can tolerate stress. The key is to create the right environmental conditions for the stress tolerators to thrive. It won\u2019t stop all the competitors, but they won\u2019t be able to out-compete the others because there aren\u2019t enough nutrients in the soil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key is to create the right environmental conditions for the stress tolerators to thrive. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Some 25 species were sown on the Weymouth road verges, but many of his successful urban schemes use as few as three \u2013 bird\u2019s-foot trefoil, ox-eye daisies and common knapweed. In addition, implementing a cut-and-collect regime for mowing existing verges has reduced grass growth, encouraged more flowers, and saved hundreds of thousands of pounds in maintenance. \u201cYou win hearts and minds by showing people results \u2013 and good results were very quick to arrive,\u201d says Phil. The tally of plants on the banks now exceeds 140, while over 30 species of butterfly \u2013 half the total number of species in Britain\u2013 have been recorded. National Highways has now adopted his methodology as a template for road-verge design, but Phil is far from thinking his work is done. He would really like a policy role in which he could influence government thinking. \u201cWe now have the evidence that reversing biodiversity loss actually saves money: that\u2019s a message that more people need to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Useful information<\/strong> Butterfly Conservation\u2019s Big Butterfly Count<\/a> runs from 14 July to 6 August: bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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