Wildflower Meadow Project

We wanted to embark on a project that would involve a community and Steve and Val came up with the bright idea of an eco-project, in this case a wildflower meadow. Why a wildflower meadow you ask? Well, the "State of Nature Report" published in 2013 said;

The area of lowland meadow in England and Wales declined by 97% between the 1930s and 1984 - a total loss of 64,000 sq km. A huge number of wildflowers and insects were affected, including the once widespread scabious cuckoo bee (Nomada armata), which is now extremely rare.

Members of the club did some research to see what was needed to develop a wildflower meadow. Then we identified the site by the side of Hazel Crescent, got permission to go ahead from the Towcester Town Council (thankyou) and delivered flyers to every household in Hazel Crescent.

After our successful Sausage Sizzle fundraiser we were ready to go.  However, before we started the Town Mayor, Lisa Samiotis, came along to cut the first turf in the rain. What we hadn't anticipated was the amount of rain. We had planned to get all the turf up in the day however Mother Nature had other ideas the rain was so bad we managed to clear the first quadrant, then we called it a day.

But that didn't stop us. Work continued down the week with a final push on Sunday 20 October of clearing and raking the site and sowing the seed. We now just have to wait for it to grow. The fencing that has been put up is to protect the site until the seed has started to grow and everyone can then enjoy it. Hopefully it will be a very colourful spring and summer.

 Of course none of this would have been possible without the support of the Town Council, George Browns Ltd of Buckingham who provided the heavy machinery free of charge, without which this project would not have been possible. Finally, the support of the residents of Hazel Crescent some of whom came out to help work on the site. 

Our first visitor!