Get in touch with the wild species among the concrete (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Get in touch with the wild species among the concrete

2:44pm Thursday 26th July 2007

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Green or Obscene - the mileage counter

Miles by car: -181
Miles driven: -14
Miles by train: +560
Miles by bus: +0
Miles by bike: +0
Miles by foot: +88
Total: +453 (running total +791)

My garden now boasts a healthy population of three endangered species - and there aren't many that can boast that.
But that's not to say everyone can't also support their own mini site of special scientific interest for these three special species are weeds, namely corncockle, corn marigold and cornflower.
Well they are weeds if you are a farmer and don't want them in your wheat field. But, together with poppies and corn chamomile, they are beautiful wildflowers that would grace any garden in the country. Boasting an impressive palette of red, blue, pink, yellow, white and green, my front yard would do justice to inclusion in any impressionist painting.
They are easy to sow, need no care or watering, are appreciated by bees, butterflies and other insects and provide an uplifting spectacle. So why don't more people put aside space in a border for them or similar wildflowers? Is it because we are snobs, only appreciating a beautiful flower if it comes from halfway round the world (rather like food these days) or is the stigma of being a weed too much?
After all, I bet many of the imported exotics could be classified as weeds in their homeland and surely our own ones are better than foreign ones, particularly if the latter start to take over our countryside like the rhododendrons and Himalayan balsam.
And if gardeners give them growing room, they might eventually be taken off the endangered list by spreading back into the wild, taking advantage of the forgotten corners of our fields, villages, towns and cities.
Where some people see wasteland, I see space for flowers and nature to colonise with the site of the future Broadway scheme being just one which has become alive with fireweed, hawkbits and plantains among many species. Many hundreds of people walk past this every day without being aware of the spectacle, apart from perhaps the tinkling song of the many goldfinches which come to feed on the seeds.
Butterfly bushes, valerian and dandelions are among the many plants that find nooks and crannies to grow and brighten up the expanses of concrete and Tarmac which, if it were tidied up, leave the world a bit drabber and cut the chances for wildlife to live among us.
Shipley station is a great example of the opposite, bringing nature into the town in a planned way with the meadow looked after by Butterfly Conservation. And, on the other side of platform five, nature is reclaiming the stone flags in its totally unplanned way with spikes of purples and yellows.
The little uplift that the colour and brightness brings to commuters' lives surely means it is worth finding many more sites around the district that we can green, bringing humans back in touch with the wider environment.