Households, councils, businesses and anyone who owns a patch of grass is being invited to join in a campaign this summer to give Eden’s insect populations a boost.
The Long Grass for Nature initiative urges people to let lawns, village greens and hedgerows grow until the end of May or longer, to give the natural wildflowers in the grass a chance to bloom. The flowers provide food for insects, and the long grass gives them a much-needed habitat.
“In the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown, this is a campaign you can join in with to help local wildlife without leaving your own home,” said Chris Cant, from Penrith Action for Community Transition (PACT), the volunteer group behind the campaign.
“Just leaving your grass to grow for a month or more this spring and summer can really help insect populations. More than forty per cent of insect species are declining, both here and around the world. Insects are incredibly important, for humans as well as wildlife. We rely on them to pollinate about three-quarters of the crops we grow, so we all have something to gain by helping their numbers to recover. Insects are also food for many species of birds and other wildlife, so helping insects also supports nature more widely.”
For parents trying to keep children entertained during the lockdown, a longer lawn can provide some great opportunities for learning and enjoying nature.
“Once your grass is longer, you’ll start to see different types of wildflowers and insects in it, and identifying them is a great activity to do with children,” Chris said. “On our website, you’ll find links to wildflower and bee identification guides, and a recording sheet to note down what you see. You can submit your record to Cumbria Wildlife Trust as part of their Get Cumbria Buzzing campaign, and take part in Plantlife’s Every Flower Counts survey in late May, helping to monitor insect populations. Looking out for wildflowers could add an extra element to your family’s daily exercise walk during lockdown, too.”
Having longer grass can also brighten up gardens and add some welcome cheer with splashes of wildflower colour. Christine Sutherland, secretary of PACT, keeps the front lawn long at her Penrith home and has enjoyed seeing orchids among the wildflowers that appear.
“When I moved into this house, the grass hadn’t been cut for a couple of months and the lawn was full of flowers,” Christine said. “It seemed a shame to cut them, so I cut a path round leaving a big patch in the middle. One orchid appeared the first summer, and then last summer there were five!”
Christine’s now got inspired to plant more wildflower seeds, to create even more of a buzz in her garden.
“The front lawn is going to have ox-eye daisies, ragged robin, meadowsweet and agrimony in it,” Christine said. “I also have a patch of long grass down the side of the house and have planted cornflowers, corn poppies, corn cockle and corn marigolds in there. I’ve sown a separate new flower bed with several random packs of mixed wildflower seed that I had. It is going to be exciting to see what happens. I trust I will have some happy bees and butterflies!”
PACT is keen to find out how many people in Eden plan to give long grass a try this year, or who already do it. There’s an online form to fill in on their website along with other helpful information and ideas at www.penrithact.org.uk.
