Discover flower power at Rosliston

Visitors to one of South Derbyshire’s most popular attractions are being invited to go wild and discover more about one of its newest features.

Two sessions, each covering wildflower identification and offering a beginner’s guide to creating a wildflower meadow, will be hosted at Rosliston Forestry Centre, with a chance to explore the new wildflower meadows springing up there as part of the Wildflower and Hedgerow Explorers project.

The scheme has been funded by Tesco’s ‘Bags of Help’ initiative, which sees grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p plastic carrier bag levy – awarded to environmental and green space projects.

Lawrence Oates, wildflower identification course leader and facilitator at South Derbyshire District Council’s Environmental Education Project, said: “The first wildflower walk at Rosliston Forestry Centre was a great success.

“Most of those attending had little or no knowledge of wildflowers, yet equipped with their hand lenses and simple keys they were like regular detectives following the clues to reveal the identity of the flowers.

“An added bonus was spotting the beautiful delicate damselfly, hiding on a meadow vetchling, that we would have missed had we not been studying the flower so closely.

“We’d urge people to come and join us next time to see what treats we can find.”

The free courses will take place between 10am and noon on Thursday 20 July 2017 and between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday 7 October 2017, featuring question-and-answer opportunities about the creation of the new wildflower meadows.

Booking is essential by calling tel: 01283 535039 or email: rosliston@southderbyshire.gov.uk

People can keep up to date with environmental events and activities by following Rosliston Environmental Education project on Twitter or Facebook.

12 July 2017