One of Riverside Naturally's aims is to increase biodiversity in the green spaces within Riverside. We are now in a place to be able to extend the Community Orchard and develop a low growing wildflower meadow.
The low-growing meadow will have 20 native wildflower species, such as, Wild Strawberry, Selfheal, Cowslip, Birdsfoot Trefoil, and Common Dog Violet. It will be cut throughout the growing season and left to flower between July and August, giving “more flowers, more wildlife, and less mowing”!
You can help us to keep the meadow well-managed and encourage as many pollinating insects as possible to the area by sponsoring a square metre of our new meadow.
The meadow will be approx. 1000 sq. metres next to the orchard. Each square metre costs £1 and you can sponsor as many as you like. Donate online through the our CAF Donate page or in cash/cheque by downloading this form and posting or dropping it in to Riverside Naturally at 24 Forth Crescent, Riverside, FK8 1LG. Should you consider adding Gift Aid to your donation please also complete this form.
To use CAF Donate go to here and put Riverside Naturally in the search bar. Click on search and the click on donate next to Riverside Naturally. Tick the ‘special instructions’ box to let us know your name and the number of square metres you are sponsoring. If you are buying as gift and would like the recipient to be invited to the planting please also give their details.
All sponsors will be invited to the sowing of the meadow in April/May, and to any meadow events in the future.
Sponsorship of a square(s) does not give the sponsor any land ownership or legal rights or obligations. Nor is there any expectation that sponsors will maintain the space - though all volunteers are welcome at our regular sessions.
We hope you will join us in creating this exciting new wildlife area and
"to make Riverside a better place to live, by making it a better place for nature”.
Increasing biodiversity is something we are working on as part of our core values - find out why here.
For further reading there have been a number of articles written on the decline of wildflower meadows in the UK- the BBC, The Guardian and The Independent have a good overview why this matters.
The RSPB, the RHS and The Eden Project have guides to making your own wildflower meadow too.
If you are keen to see some for yourself in the spring and through summer The Wildlife Trust have a list here of ones you can visit.