Wild flowers are blooming beautiful on road verges
Volunteers in Presteigne and Norton are helping to create wildlife corridors on verges in the area.
They recently met to rakethe verges that are being managed to enhance the biodiversity of the area.
For the past two years the cutting regime has been altered to allow the wildflowers already there to thrive and to see what else emerges.
They said frequent cutting means flowers are often only open for a while before being mown down reducing their full potential.
"The plants, ferns and grasses that are now being allowed to flourish offer an important source of food and habitat attracting insects, pollinators and small mammals," Rolly Bea said.
Handpainted signs are placed near to flowers in spring and summer bringing attention to the variety and helping people identify the different species, whilst attracting interest in the project.
"Just as their larger relatives trees, wildflowers play a vital role in our eco system. The increased population of pollinators can spread to the wider countryside and support food production locally. Less frequently mown grass improves the capacity of the soil to absorb water
and pollutants from trafficm, all increasingly important in these ecologically stressed times."
The volunteers found orchids in two new places where the grass was left uncut earlier on in the year.
