Save our verges from the mowers and save wildlife

I SYMPATHISE with the reader who wrote to Postbag in distress after seeing a bank of cowslips alongside the A338 casually massacred in the name of tidiness.

I know we’re a military community, but that doesn’t mean that every blade of grass needs a No.1 haircut and every flowerbed has to be planted with geometric precision like a regiment standing to attention.

It’s a pity that the pretty crocuses on the Harnham gyratory that used to spell out ‘Welcome Spring’ have died out.  When my sons were small, the whole family used to look out for the annual reappearance of this cheery little message as we drove by. Just thought I’d mention that in passing.

But the city’s naturalised daffodil displays remain a delight, and one thing I’ve been enjoying in recent weeks has been the sight of longer grasses left to wave in the breeze along the sides of the ring road while the spent bulbs die down.

I’ve noticed that wild flowers have started to show their heads on our roundabouts, too, and if Wiltshire Council is looking for ways to save money under its new £150million highways maintenance contract with Balfour Beatty Living Places, it could try leaving all these areas alone until the end of summer every year.

To my mind, verges look so much lovelier in a semi-natural state where they offer cover for birds and small mammals, and where the flowers provide food to help support our endangered populations of bees, butterflies and other insects.

I realise that there are some junctions where it is necessary to keep vegetation in check to allow sufficient visibility for motorists. But there are whole stretches of roadside where that’s not an issue.

These little strips of green are a world in themselves if they’re left to get on with it, without being menaced by mowers.

Salisbury City Council has shown imagination and done us all a favour by planting wild flower areas and community orchards in our parks and public spaces. Vandals permitting, these will be just the start of a wider network.

Let’s hope that any little green oases alongside our roads can be allowed to flourish, too, forming wildlife corridors around our city for the benefit of future generations.

While I’m on about it, why do the Harnham water meadows need to be managed to within an inch of their lives?

My husband and I watched recently as a rotten limb of an ash tree on the meadow across the river from us was reduced to a stump.

It was perfect for woodpeckers, and there was no danger of it falling on anybody, given that the public are excluded “by order of the trustees”, except on strictly supervised group visits.

Dead wood is a vital habitat for many species. But there’s none on the meadows these days. It’s all ‘tidied up’ as soon as it falls.