Food for Butterflies
There’s a good chance that endangered Small Blue and Dingy Skipper butterflies will find their food plants in Batheaston next year.
Grow Batheaston partnered with Avon WIldlife Trust (AWT), volunteers from Interactions UK (a Bath based B Corp company) and a WIldlife Champion from Bristol to plant wildflowers in Batheaston.
Emma Fennel-Hodson Wildlife Champions Co-ordinator, and Alex Dommett, People and Wildlife Manager, both from AWT, provided hula hoops, tools, plants and seeds from the Grow Wilder plant nursery.
The hoops were used to mark out circles in the grass. The turf within the circles was removed to give the flowers a chance to grow without having to compete with the grass.
The plants are all native species chosen for being attractive to pollinators. They include Kidney Vetch which has fluffy yellow flowers and is the food plant of the Small Blue butterfly; Corky Fruited Water Dropwort with a fabulous name and clusters of white flowers; Field Scabious; Greater Knapweed; Yarrow; Oxeye Daisy and Birdsfoot Trefoil which feeds the Dingy Skipper butterfly.
They were planted in groups, so that the pollinators don’t have to travel far to find the next flowers, and to create wilddlife corridors.
Interactions UK gives each of its employees two paid days a year for a charitable activity. Scarlett Copsey, Lily de Malpas-Player and Laura Stephens chose to spend a day helping Grow Batheaston improve the environment for lots of pollinators and for Batheastoners.
Sue Adamson, who came over from Bristol, is a passionate member of the Wildlife Champions programme run by AWT. With no prior experience, she joined the Wildlife Champions when she retired. Since then she has been on many courses run by AWT and helps with lots of community nature work.
GB’s has two Wildlife Champions, Alison Harper and Steve Harper. They organised the planting day, and were there hauling turves, planting and digging.
The group also visited the Forest Garden to plant bulbs.
L to R - Emma Fennel-Hodson Wildlife Champion Co-ordinator AWT , Sue Adamson Wildlife Champion from Bristol , Alison Harper GB, Alex Dommett People and Wildlife Manager AWT, Lily de Malpas-Player Interactions UK, Laura Stephens Interactions UK, Scarlett Copsey Interactions UK
Thanks to Heritage Lottery Funding, Avon Wildlife Trust is able run the Wildlife Champions programme and support nature activities such as this day of planting.