THE Barncroft will be blooming next year thanks to Knutsford Town Council and Cheshire Wildlife Trust.
Creating a new wildflower meadow was a key part of the council’s Nature Action Plan, which aims to improve the town’s biodiversity and natural environment.
The Barncroft, which is behind St Cross Church, previously had an annual wildflower meadow created by Knutsford in Bloom.
Adam Linnet preparing ground
The town council commissioned Cheshire Wildlife Trust to create a perennial meadow using locally-sourced seeds harvested from their own wildflower meadows. This supports genetic plant biodiversity and the perennial meadow will be self-sustaining and return year after year.
Wildflower meadows support local wildlife, and this particularly provides a habitat to support pollinating insects, which have been in catastrophic decline in recent decades.
Cheshire Wildlife Trust aims to create 100 hectares of wildflower meadow over the next 10 years, and was joined by Kevin Griffiths and Malcolm Thomas to cast the seed.
Adam Linnet shows some of the seeds
Kevin and Malcolm have been supporting the town council in the development and implementation of the Nature Action Plan.
“Reinstating a wildflower meadow was one of the first projects we wanted to undertake under our action plan – it will look beautiful when it is in bloom and support a whole host of wildlife” said town clerk Adam Keppel-Green.
“The next stage of our Nature Action Plan is to increase the number of trees planted across the town, and we have plans to plant over 6,000 on public land – these will be out for consultation next week."
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