They can be things of joy. Glimpsed from a car window or seen from a bike, the flowers on Scotland’s roadside verges can bring a smile to the face of the weariest traveller. The delicate blues and purples of knapweed, harebells and marsh orchids. The subtle whites of meadowsweet and the grass of Parnassus. Even the brash yellow of ragwort.
However, environmentalists are warning local authorities that they must do more to protect our roadside plantlife and are urging the public to celebrate it in all its glory.
The conservation group, Plantlife, has launched a campaign to save nature on road verges. It is asking members of the public to photograph their favourite kerbside arrays, and share them on social media.
Campaigners are also asking councils to delay cutting verges until August or later, to allow plants to seed. Grass clippings should also be removed, they say, because if left to lie they damage plant diversity.
According to Plantlife, there are over 550 different species of wild flowers growing on nearly 10,000 hectares of verges in Scotland. As well as looking beautiful, they provide nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and other insects.
Dr Deborah Long, head of Plantlife Scotland, thinks that the flowers on verges are “stunning”. They are seen by millions everyday, often as they commute to school or work.
She urged people to celebrate the astonishing diversity of flowers on verges. “But there is also something we can do for their future,” she told the Sunday Herald.
“Road verges can act as refuges for wild flowers where plants are left long enough to set seed before cutting. This has double benefits: we conserve those flowers for future generations and it saves councils money by delaying cutting.”
Many road verges didn’t need to be cut, Long said. “Heathers are just coming out now across the Highlands and grow from the road verge right up the mountains and they don’t need any management.”
Catherine Lloyd, co-ordinator of the council-backed Tayside Biodiversity Partnership, stressed that councils were getting better at managing their verges, though there were still problems. “In Perthshire, loss of flowering plants is one of the key causes of declining bee and butterfly populations,” she said. “In many places the verge management does not take this into consideration,” she added. “The all-important consideration is to find funding to help the local authorities manage the verges for biodiversity: they cannot do this alone with the current budget cuts.”
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland described verges as “massively unappreciated”. According to the society’s species officer, James Silvey, “when tended and cared for properly they should really be seen as wildlife highways that can attract a rich diversity of wildlife.”
He added: “With the right management verges can provide homes for small mammals – food for the kestrels and owls that feed on them – and nectar rich highways for our native pollinators.”
Iain Macdonald, a plant specialist with the government wildlife agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, said: “Where safe to do so, there are benefits to allowing plants to flower on roadside verges.”
Argyll and Bute Council, however, pointed out that there were important safety issues involved. “In the interest of the safety of road users we cut our verges earlier in the year – around May – and again at this time of year,” said a council spokesman.
“We do take the utmost care to protect wild flowers and other fauna as we know they make a valuable contribution to the stunning scenery of our area.”
TABLE: 10 plants you can spot now on road verges
Meadowsweet
Harebells
Knapweed
Meadow cranesbill
Ragwort
Red clover
Willow herb
Poppies
Heather
Devil’s bit scabious
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here