Breaking new ground - first wildflower planting in the village

Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) records indicate that in 1935 almost 40% of the Cotswolds landscape was covered with wildflower-rich grassland. Since then, unimproved grassland sites have fallen to just 1.5% of the area of the Cotswolds. 

GCC further noted that:
  • thousands of species are at risk of extinction due to habitat loss
  • the loss of biodiversity is having serious consequences for the resilience of
    ecosystem functions on which our communities and countryside depend
  • with the loss of lowland meadows and pastures across the UK,
    grassy road verges in particular offer vital refuges for plants and wildflowers.
For further information please see:

GCC Ecological Emergencylive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/nature-gets-priority-ecological-emergency-4367102

Just six months ago Cotswold District Council (CDC) approved an Ecological Emergency Action Plan as their response to the Ecological Crisis. This included promoting the creation of new natural green spaces and green links across the District and offering to assist local communities in achieving this.

Mickleton Rewilding Group celebrated the Spring Equinox - the first day of Spring - with a modest planting of native wildflowers by local families yesterday in village open space.
For a variety of reasons 'modest' has to be the appropriate description as locating and gaining approval for the use of public space in Mickleton has proved difficult.

Well done to the Jones' youngsters for helping us plant wildflower seeds yesterday

With enthusiastic support from Guy, Jill and Andy, and the Jones family, quite a few seeds were scattered on the large triangle at the south end of the village yesterday. Unfortunately they have to compete with well established grass but we scratched the surface a bit to give them a better start! We also noticed a lot of wild celandines in the bank and indications that wild carrot and perhaps other native species might also appear in due course providing we can keep over zealous mowers away. In addition a few seeds were planted in the verges outside the Delaney's.



There is now a small but very enthusiastic group working on Rewilding. With such limited public space on offer (still too many folk complain if the grass is allowed to grow) the rest of the planting will be in private gardens using seed packs which will be available for collection in the village over Easter week-end. RM will also plant fresh seeds in the 'annuals' wildflower patch in the 3Bs garden behind the Methodist Church (image below taken in 2018).


Most of the action will now take place in the school with strong support from Lorna and the backing of the Head Teacher. Some wildflowers will be grown on a patch allocated in the school grounds and pupils will also have the choice of growing wildflowers in large pots or a metre square prepared patch (there are instructions with the seed packs) somewhere in their gardens with (hopefully) encouragement from their parents.

Despite limitations of funding (all the seed and printing costs have been covered by generous donations from residents and a local business) we still hope to have some attractive displays by mid-summer.

Please take 'before' and 'after' photos with your mobiles or iPads; there will be prizes awarded for the best results in August.

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