On the Wildside: Graves Park meadows looking good with another new discovery

We recently discovered meadow cranesbill for the first time on the Spring Park Meadow area, and then last week, I found greater knapweed with its stunning purple ‘ray florets’, the first record for the park. It may have arrived with vehicles cutting the hay in late summer, perhaps on a visiting botanist’s boots, or else seeds have been blown in by the wind. This showy perennial flower tends to be restricted in South Yorkshire to the magnesian limestone belt running north-south to the east of Sheffield. In Derbyshire it is also found in the Peak District dales. Otherwise, it is very rare although I have seen it spreading on limestone ballast on disused railway lines which are now countryside trails. Whatever the route and cause of its arrival, it is an exciting addition to the park’s ecology reflecting enlightened meadow management.

A less positive observation is that the numbers of insects, such as bumblebees, honeybees, hoverflies, moths and butterflies, remain very low indeed this year. One of our local butterfly enthusiasts, Denis Dell, has spotted purple hairstreaks on the oak trees – which is good news, and I have seen ringlets, small skipper, and meadow browns in the grasslands. Overall, though, the numbers are low, and buddleia bushes covered in flowers are singularly lacking.

Clearly the wet cool weather for much of the year so far has affected many species.

However, this situation serves to reinforce the need for more enlightened management more widely if we hope to turn the tide of ‘biodiversity extinction’ and of ‘pollinator decline’.

This may seem to be an issue of little real importance in the bigger scheme of things, until you think about the hidden services that bees and other insects provide in pollinating our agricultural and horticultural crops. So, when I hear government ministers saying lets free up planning controls to build, build, build, I do wonder if they understand the hidden costs of possible overdevelopment.

Professor Ian D. Rotherham, researcher, writer & broadcaster on wildlife & environmental issues, is contactable on [email protected]; follow Ian’s blog (https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/) and Twitter @IanThewildside