This time of year the verge absolutely bursts with life and colour as all the wild flowers compete for space. a couple of weeks ago it was cut, but new life is already springing up. The profusion and variety is restricted by the farming systems on either side of the roads, either sheep, pasture or arable, which does enable nitrogen leaching and leads to Cow Parsley, nettles and others (see below) being a bit of a thug as they love this nitrogen rich habitat.
This from the Wildlife Trust explains the issues involved in verge management.
“Cutting at the wrong time – for example, from early spring – can cause considerable harm to the wildlife in verges, as many wildflowers will not have a chance to flower or set seed and habitats are destroyed in the process. However, many verges are choked with lush, tall-growing grasses and tall, competitive plants like thistles, hogweed, cow parsley, docks and nettles which leave no room for anything else. As a general rule, where growth is not lush, tall and limited to just a few common plants, delay the cutting until later in the year, ideally from August onwards. This allows wildflowers the chance to grow and set their seed, and gives wildlife time to make the most of the habitat.”
Some general views of the roadside verges around the village.
Flowers, grasses and found objects along the way.
a lens in the landscape 
Cool project and nice shots. We don’t have verges in my urban landscape but we’ve made a ‘bee patch’ in our garden – basically dug up a bit of lawn, and it’s now home to thistles, black knapweed and some other stuff I’m not sure about!
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