Hot TOPICS 
'Bee' Busy and 'Bug' Councils Greener Plea
(July 09, 2020)A Warminster resident with a science phd is urging councillors and the public to make the town greener in the way it looks at doing more to help nature in the future as one of the lessons of the pandemic lockdown has emerged.
“I want us all to take a look at the Plantlife Road Verge Campaign and make suggestions about which can safely ‘bee’ seeded with wild flowers,” said Robyn Bott.
The Salisbury based group motto is ‘cut less, cut later’ and is calling on councils like Warminster and Wiltshire to let flowers grow to encourage pollinators to do their work.
“With Lockdown in place over the flowering season this year, the verges on the A36 towards Salisbury have been peppered with the whites, yellows, reds and purples of a smorgasbord of flowers,” said Robyn.
“It has be
en a particularly good year for ox-eye daisies, with thousands covering some of the local fields.”
Robyn, a resident of the ‘birds estate’, lives very near the Common in Bradley Road which she enjoys because it offers a good balance between walking, recreation and a return to nature before the cutting of all grassy areas.
“The edges of this popular amenity makes me think that the verge it enjoys with Bradley Road could become a plantlife project along with many others around the town.
“By encouraging councils to reduce mowing so the wildflowers have a chance to grow and set seed, we can increase the biodiversity of our road verges as well as saving carbon emissions from the mowers and cutting council costs.
“Cutting is still required to maximise the biodiversity, but should be delayed until late summer for the greatest benefit.“
Robyn and her partner have a ‘wild’ garden which attracts a wide variety of birds, insects and animals including hedgehogs.
“I’ve converted part of our garden to support more wildlife, and planted “bee bombs”, small balls of clay, compost and native wildflower seeds, to speed the re-wilding,” explained Robyn.
“Who doesn’t like to see wildflowers and butterflies?
“I believe that if we all try to encourage some rewilding, or ask the council to adopt the Plantlife mowing guidelines, we can improve our local environments with little effort.”
"Let's 'bug' them to do more," added Robyn with a huge smile.
Captions top to bottom: Robyn with what may be the colourful 'Rosebay Willow herb' at the Common .... Rotherham Council have been praised for their initiative which had the bonus of saving money .... One of Robyn's Blue hearts (see a previous hot topic)