Wroxall Parish Council took up a Farming in Protected Landscapes grant to improve the environment of their recreation ground at Castle Road. Led by Jackie Gallop (clerk) and Steven Clarke (chairman) along with parish volunteers and local school children 2,000 wildflower plug plants were planted. This will give a colourful display next summer and provide a source of pollen and nectar for insects.
The grant will also help the parish to plant up gaps in the boundary hedgerow and new trees will be established later in the autumn. Making changes to the grassland mowing regime will ensure there are some taller areas of grass for insects to survive over the winter and cover for small mammals.
The project will make the recreation ground much more attractive as a place to walk, to enjoy the landscape and see much more wildlife. It is a great example of how some very ordinary areas of grassland can offer so much more for the environment, helped by the enthusiasm and dedication of the community who wish to make their locality wildlife friendly.
Jackie Gallop, Clerk to Wroxall Parish Council shares her experience of applying for a FiPL (Farming in Protected Landscapes) grant:
Wroxall Parish Council received an email about grants for Farming in Rural Landscapes. I thought let’s see if we can apply so I called the very helpful Mark Simmons who agreed to meet Steve Clarke the Chair of Wroxall Parish Council and myself. We didn’t know if we were eligible and you don’t realise things like there is 20 metres of missing hedging at our recreation ground.
In the end we planted 2000 wildflower plugs and 4 sacks of daffodil bulbs with around 40 volunteers from the village. It was a great community spirit and we were blessed with fine weather. The planting actually started 2 days before the main day with the School Captains and Vice Captain from Wroxall Primary School planting the first 100 plants. This was done in atrocious weather conditions.
Next stage will be in November when the hedging is replaced and 6 trees planted. We will also be ordering an interpretation board which will give details of the project and details of what can be seen in the surrounding landscape. You really must visit this little secret spot and see for yourself. Just hoping the flowers all grow to enhance the wildlife of the area. Next Spring we will know!
The Parish Council have only incurred minimal costs and pretty much everything from garden trowels, gardening gloves, hand wipes, fencing, ground preparation mulch, the wild flowers, hedging, trees and the interpretation board and art work are covered.
It did take a bit of organising, but any Parish Council that has land that could be eligible, please contact Mark Simmons. I would be happy to advise how we ran the project.
Email: mark.simmons@iow.gov.uk or the Isle of Wight National Landscape team unit@isleofwight-nl.org.uk