Thanks to generous donations to the Lake District Foundation, we made a grant to Coniston Wildflower Meadow project in December last year. With wildflower meadows in serious decline, this project seeks to turn a green space in the centre of Coniston into a beautiful wildflower meadow with information boards explaining the benefits for wildlife and species including bees and other pollinators.
Despite the unforeseen restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, planting of the new wildflower meadow has taken place earlier this month and all the signs are looking good for pollinators in Coniston.
“Our plans were to complete the meadow in May, but unfortunately Covid-19 restrictions meant we had to put this back until late summer. Fortunately, we were able to prepare the ground for planting in September and planted half of the area in wildflower turf and half with seeds to compare the results for future projects. Within a couple of hours of planting the turf bees were already attracted to the area. Surely a good sign for things to come!
The local secondary school have been involved too, carrying out a quadrant survey of the area prior to planting and with the help of a local expert they will continue to study the area next year. An information board is being created by a local artist highlighting the importance of wildflower meadows and a small fence will be erected around the site.
We are extremely grateful to the Lake District Foundation for their support and hope that our project will encourage others to create their very own wildflower meadow.”
To ensure that more projects like this can continue, please DONATE to the Lake District Foundation, your support really does make a difference.