Celebrating, supporting and encouraging green initiatives in the North York Moors area plus news from the world of sustainability. If you're thinking about making some changes to reduce your environmental impact, take a look around this website and be inspired.
The Cornfield Flowers Project aims to conserve and encourage wildflowers that grow in arable fields. These plants used to be a common sight in our rural landscape for hundreds of years, but due to intensification of farming practices since the 1940’s, many have become extremely rare throughout Britain, and some have become extinct entirely.
To reverse this loss of our natural heritage and the unique flora of North East Yorkshire, the Cornfield Flowers Project was created in 2000. Working alongside local farmers and with the support of volunteer horticulturalists, naturalists, schools and enthusiasts, this unique project aims to locate the last sites of these rare species and safeguard their future through propagation of collected seed and the re-introduction of new plants into protected farm fields.
This posting is the result of a couple of hours spent with project co-ordinator Chris Wilson who kindly showed me a project site on the outskirts of the village of Silpho. Listen to Chris talking about the project whilst looking at the slideshow of photos of the site.
Chris then took me to another site where there were more cornflowers but where the issues of setting aside marginal land which can incorporate wildflowers are the same.
Working alongside Chris is project officer Tom Normandale.
Tom describes his work as follows:
"My role involves working with local community groups, horticulturalists, naturalists, organisations and schools to create ‘cornfield flower beds’ for growing a range of species in a controlled area, and developing ‘species custodians’ who become specialist in the propagation of a handful of rare species – a process which helps us understand further the exact requirements of these still little understood plants. I also produce interpretation and support materials for the Project and undertake the ‘bread-and-butter’ element of our work – surveying farm fields for resident arable flora, hunting down the remaining lost species and propagating plants".
If you are interested in these beautiful flowers and would like to get involved in the project please email Tom.
Many thanks to both Tom and Chris for their support in creating this blog entry - it was a fascinating visit.
