Soroptimists from the Crosby club are growing native wildflowers from seed.
Why? Once strong enough, the flowers will be used to form part of the wetland wildflower meadow at Lunt Meadows nature reserve.
The Soroptimists planted lesser knapweed, meadow vetchling, ox-eye daisy, meadow crane’s-bill, field scabious and ragged robin. They will nurture the seeds for several weeks, in readiness for planting out.
The reserve is managed by the Wildlife Trust: Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside (LWT). This is LWT’s trial scheme, to see if robust plants have a good chance of thriving. Are they less of a temptation than the juicy seedlings so beloved of magpies?
Lunt Meadows’ native wildflowers will act as a source of food for pollinators and invertebrates. In turn these will attract larger wildlife such as birds and dragonflies.
SI Crosby is in a long-term partnership with LWT as the nature reserve develops, undertaking a variety of volunteer roles. This is just one!
The Soroptimists will keep LWT up to date with progress. They hope that, once strong and planted out, these perennial plants will come up year after year, adding to the diversity of wildlife on the reserve.