Over the last two weeks we have traveled to Blackness Community Park in Bo’ness, West Lothian. Our tasks were to cut back gorse, pond maintenance and planting a wildflower meadow.
Tackling gorse was a prickly problem. Gorse is an invasive species as it excludes native vegetation where it inhabits and thus threatens the biodiversity of the areas where it establishes. Therefore, as Gorse is difficult to eradicate our task was to control the existing growth by cutting the base of the plant with loppers, collecting the cuttings where they were then hauled out to the beach and burnt!
The pond – on the other hand- proved particularly challenging as it had become shallow and evolved to marshes. Our first task was to dig an irrigation channel leading to the pond. Once this was accomplished our team of volunteers donned waders removed the reeds and silt by transferring it to piles nearby to rot allowing aqauatic life to crawl back into the water. The purpose of the pond maintenance would make the area more visually attractive and increase the biodiversity of the local environment.
One of our more colourful tasks was to turn a grassy area into a wildflower meadow. To create a summer flowering meadow we planted plugs of a variety of species including Oxeye Daisy – favourite of bees and butterflies, Achillea Yarrow – attracts ladybugs and hoverflies, Red and White Clover, Bush vetch and Campion. Over the next year these perennial wildflowers will establish their root system and foliage.
It has been estimated that 95% of wildflower meadows have declined over the last decade! Therefore, wildflower meadows are not only an important wildlife habitat but are integral for biodiversity.