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Volunteers increase their flower power

The Knapp and Papermill by Paul Lane

Volunteers from Worcestershire Wildlife Trust have been increasing their flower power thanks to a grant from The Wild Flower Society.

The national society gave a grant of £250 to the Worcestershire conservation charity in order to train some of their volunteers in wildflower identification.  The training will allow the volunteers to take a more active role in surveying and monitoring species on the Trust’s nature reserves.

David Molloy, conservation officer, commented “This training has allowed some of our keenest volunteers to spend quality time with a trainer to really get to grips with identifying wildflowers.

“It’s really important that we know what plants are growing on what nature reserves so that we know how best to manage them.  The plants support so many other species so it’s vital that we get this right."

Knowing where plants are and how well they are doing also allows us to track trends and to see if factors like climate change are having an impact on our natural world here in Worcestershire.
Wildflower training

Nine volunteers came together at the Trust’s Boynes Coppice nature reserve near Upton upon Severn for the day-long training at the end of June.

Southwest Worcestershire is a particularly important area for wildflower-rich grasslands and meadows.  England has lost approximately 97% of these meadows since the 1940s and Worcestershire has about a fifth of those that remain.

David added “With Worcestershire being so important for wildflower-rich grasslands, it’s brilliant to be able to equip our volunteers with the knowledge and skills to recognise what’s here.

“In turn, they can pass on their knowledge to others.”

The Wild Flower Society is the only national society for amateur botanists and wildflower lovers in the UK.  They support wildflower projects across the UK.

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