ON THE VERGE

Connecting people and green spaces

Spotted on the Verge in March

 

What did you spot in the verges in March? The first wild flower I noticed was the sweet violets. I spotted the first ones in the verge of Fitzgerald Avenue, and soon they were popping up everywhere including by the side of the main road!

It’s lovely to see crocuses and daffodils popping up in gardens, and some verges too. These are a cheery sight and very important source of nectar for early pollinators.

Lesser Celandine are another really important plant for queen bumblebees and other early insects. They started to appear in March, like these ones in Sutton Avenue and more in Corsica Road. They spread in gardens and verges very easily, and are very welcome weeds in my garden!

Sometimes you need to look very closely for flowers; on the corner in the verge of Southdown road, I spotted some of the first daisies, and also these tiny but beautiful speedwell which are great for solitary bees.

Another early flower popular with long tongued insects such as red mason bees and bumble bees is red dead nettle, like these in the playground in Princess Drive.

There were also hundreds in a great display in front of Seaford Head sixth form college (who have logged the space they are letting grow wilder on the Square Metre for Wildlife site). Several moth caterpillars also feed on the leaves.

In Blatchington Hill, I walked past some lovely primroses, a great source of nectar for butterflies including brimstone and small tortoiseshell.

Further along the path, was some splendid white comfrey which is much loved by honey and other bees (comfrey is very useful in the garden as a green manure too!)

We would love to hear about your wild flower sightings in April, do send us your sightings and photographs.

If you are not very confident spotting flowers, a great way to learn more about identification would be to sign up to Plantlife’s Great British Wildflower Hunt 2021! 

You can print off spotting sheets, or download an app for your phone, and there will be four different challenges in the Spring and Summer. It would be brilliant if we could tick off all of these plants off somewhere in Seaford! Do let us know how you get on.

A more local botany project is being run by Seaford Natural History Society.  The Flowering Plant of the Month Project will help members develop their plant identification skills and to contribute to the gathering of information on wildflower distribution in Seaford. We are really looking forward to seeing the results! If you are interested in wildlife, you may be interested in joining the society, which costs £20 per year. Please visit their website.



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