The Isle of Wight Council is supporting the national ‘No Mow May’ campaign at several of its sites.
The campaign aims to encourage people to ‘liberate their lawns’ — letting the grass grow will provide a feast for insects and bees, and lock away greenhouse gasses carbon below ground.
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Cabinet member for climate change and environment, said:
“Not mowing in May will support the Biosphere and United Nations’ sustainable development goal of ‘life on land, to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystem and halt biodiversity loss’.
“Encouraging biodiversity is really important for our environment. Wild orchids including the declining man orchid, green-winged orchid, southern and northern marsh orchid, and bee orchid can light up up liberated lawns.”
Natasha Dix, the council’s head of environment, added:
“The national ‘Every Flower Counts’ survey last year found that one square metre on a typical lawn had 17 daisies and a smattering of buttercups and dandelions and other native species.
“The world’s bee population is threatened. By leaving lawns to flower, even just for a month, you will support our local bees and the wider biodiversity structures that they provide critical balance to.
Article continues below this advertisement “I’d encourage everyone to get involved.”
For safety reasons, the council will continue to mow the first metre of roadside verges throughout May and a number of outdoor spaces that serve sport and recreation activities.
However, the council will be letting some areas return to their natural state throughout the month.
In 2021, ‘No Mow Mayers’ reported more than 250 plant species including wild strawberry, wild garlic and a dazzling array of rarities including adders’-tongue fern, meadow saxifrage, snake’s-head fritillary, and eyebright.
For more information about No Mow May, visit https://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay/.
I don’t do trendy or fashionable gardening. I do classical gardening as a creative art form of the kind you see in country houses all over the country. My lawn will be returned to the close-cropped manicured stripes in which it is decorated every year following the destruction and ‘wilding’ it suffers every winter. It is halfway there already, belated this year because of incessant rain. It should be complete by the end of May. Next job will be getting rid of the murderous moss.
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Cabinet member for climate change and environment, said:
not building houses on greenfields will do far more good than any of this window dressing
Standard propaganda spiel from the councillor. Touched all the eco-bases.
Sorry to say your ignorance is in need of adjustment so maybe take a step back and see that we as a planet needs to be less stuffy about your gardens. Every little bit helps for a future.
Perhaps we should ALL take a step back and allow each other to make their own decisions and behave in a way suitable to them without being called ignorant??? This constant need to belittle anyone who doesn’t follow another persons agenda is fast becoming very very tiresome! Freedom of speech and action is, and always will be, the right of all, preferably without the fear of being forced to accept ideas they may not agree with.
A marvellous idea which will be good for wild flowers and bees but remember that some species such as Butterflies use these plants to raise their young.
So if trying to encourage more Butterflies etc the plants will have eggs laid on them then butterflies then chrysalis, so a longer time period than a mere month.
So if you can leave an area in your garden til late Autumn
Our neighbour hasn`t touched theirs for many months, there a big things living in it, very big things.
Good news then?.Our wildlife will be needing such refuges increasingly as their natural domains get jcb violated by the year ?
Of course it’s a marvellous idea – inspired in the first instance by the Charity “Plantlife”. Shame IOWC can’t encourage more and essential “Biodiversity”, by not allowing OTT housing developments.
And of course save the council a lot of money
What a load of Controlling nonsense.
I pay my extorninate Green waste bin fee.
Does that mean we all will get 1 months refund ?????
I doubt it!
And how many green fields are being destroyed by west acre/penny feathers ? Practice what you preach iow council, otherwise yet again you will appear foolish.
Of course the Council are all for ‘No Mow May’ it gives them an excuse to save some pennies and not cut any grass which quite frankly will make it look exactly like it normally does for most of the year.
Bacon and his balmy army need to se a doctor.
How about no more concrete and bricks for ten years or so. I know you think we are all stupid but you are very wrong. And do you really think anyone takes any notice of you lot?????
Leave your lawn to flower for a month and you’ll have another 7 years of weed seeds just waiting to ruin it all over again. If the birds and bees would consume my weed seeds I’d be delighted but they aren’t interested.
Why not use those weeds for human consumption after all that used to be part of our diet. The government etc need to build more sustainable homes like the architecture of Walter seagul. There’s some all over the U.K. and not a brick in sight…
Best of luck eating buttercups and many other toxic weeds. You are quite welcome to have my dandelions, which are not toxic but taste disgusting. Domesticated plants have been bred over many years to contain less offensive tasting chemicals and to be less toxic.
Wild plants hardly ruin lawns. Lawns are green deserts for wildlife and should be banned.
Ha ha. Cost cutting in the guise of helping nature. Nice one IWCC!
I cut mine above every three years otherwise I can’t find the dog.
I am mowing mine tomorrow, with all the rain and sun it needs a good
Thrashing.
Typical IWC do nothing is their mantra .. but let the water companies pollute / destroy the beaches and water, but don’t hurt the butterfly’s, still SW have offered pop up Bob free water barrels (big deal !)
Just a money saving smoke screen
I would like to ask the council, if they want to help with bee population and wildlife, maybe the best way would be to stop giving building permits, with the huge developments in Ryde and Carisbrooke for starters, on the land that includes fields, meadows, trees, hedge rows etc, etc.
Not to mention the added sewage to an already over loaded system that is frequently dumped in the oceans. That also needs to be preserved. Or the single hospital that has already shut a lot of services and shifted them to “the other side” Or the Drs surgeries with no appointments available for months. Or the roads being gridlocked. Or dentists being full. Lack of police. Closing fire stations. Killing tourism. Killing the island. All for “sealed envelopes”
Wokism at its worst!!! I was recently told by one of the woke dimwits that I had to ask the grass for permission to mow it. This was after a comment that I am supposed to ask my dog if it was OK to stroke it.
Better still get rid of lawns completely and grow plants that help nature. I would rather see a garden full of wild flowers than a sterile desert of lawn and wildlife will thank you for it by coming in abundance. Get rid of lawns!!!
Good luck getting your lawn back inder control in June when it’s knee high.
Long grass is good for wildlife in properly managed environments.
Just mow your lawn to 2 inches every seven to ten days and probably bee friendly daisies,buttercups and speedwell will thrive. 12 high grass isn’t the answer.Then you have the problem of disposal.
haha the council cut grass more like make a mess of it
The swines lopped down a gorgeous,ancient tree recently in Western-Gardens,Ryde.No reason given.Gone overnight.These people are a in league with the devil.
From what I smell down most Island Roads
Most people are smoking it.