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  • Writer's pictureBridgette Macilwaine

Wildflower Conservation Society

A brilliant visit to the Wildflower Conservation Society in Stanmer Park in Brighton, to meet Sally and hear of their progress and future plans for greening the cities.

Many thanks to Sally for her time on our visit to the Wildflower Conservation Society. We visited the long polytunnel located in Stanmer Park, Brighton with the striking tall mullein waiting to greet us at the entrance, the exterior area planted with a beautiful combination of wildflowers, and varying tables organised outside for growing and selling of wildflowers.


 

Since 1940’s our wildflower meadows have been in decline and lost more than 80% in the UK. The Wildflower Conservation Society is a volunteer led community group working to conserve our chalk grasslands, which was born from the vital need to bring a diverse range of wildlife back to our treasured countryside spaces.


As part of the Brighton and Hove Council team, Sally has been a wonderful motivator and supporter of the WCS, along with the other volunteers and the Wildflower Guardians, who are currently all working with the Changing Chalk Partnership on the Greening the Cities project Brighton and Hove City Council to bring the wildflowers of the South Downs into the towns through the creation of new areas of wildflower planting in the city of Brighton and Hove using locally sourced and grown wildflowers. 


 

“One of the biggest challenges of restoring the diversity of our grasslands is the supply of well adapted plants of local provenance. The difficult task of turning seed into plants should not be underestimated, but the volunteers at the Wild Flower Conservation Society are experts in this.”

Dr. Christopher Cockel, UK Conservation Project Coordinator, Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanical Gardens,  Kew.


Ancient Chalk grassland is a globally rare habitat and now only covers 4% of the South Downs National Park. This has resulted in a huge decline in the number of pollinators.


Having received a grant from the National Park’s Sustainable Communities Fund, the society was able to erect a polytunnel in 2020 in Stanmer Park. The polytunnel is now the WFCS HQ and is used to nurture plants for use to rejuvenate areas in Brighton and beyond.

The volunteers hand collect native seeds, which are organised and catalogued. As the WCS only has the one polytunnel, Sally is hoping they will be able to find additional land or a larger plot to continue their valuable work and support the Greening the City scheme.

 

See more of their work or to volunteer with them through their website.


 

Thanks for reading, any questions, we would love to hear from you!


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