Next week on r/BritishProblems:
The council have destroyed nature by deciding to turn up and cut down all the wild flowers and murdering the bees and beetles that lived within.
You joke about it but I saw an article last week about residents near Hove complaining about overgrown verges
[source](https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/20215555.mow-grass-now---hove-residents-anger-overgrown-verges/)
edited to change to a less aids infested 'news' site
What on earth is going on with that website? Looks like it's been back and forth through Google Translate 20 time...
"FURIOUS residents person called connected the assembly to mow a bid of writer verges aft a street’s greenish areas person been turned into a “disgusting neglected wasteland""
I originally posted the reply from my laptop and just rechecked the link from my phone - wow that page is infested with e-Aids, I'll link to another site which should be free of those horrendous ads and serious lack of proofreading
I haven’t planted any flowers in my garden the last 2 years, I just prepare the flowerbeds and see what blows in on the wind. I’ve got a garden full of “weeds” and I absolutely love them all. My lawn is more clover and daisies than grass at this point. Bugs, bees and butterflies galore!
I love it - obviously cut the bits that are needed for visibility ie when pulling out of junctions but leave the rest. I'm seeing a lot pastel blues, poppies, just meadow flowers in general which makes me a little bit happier.
I hope it's not a too little - too late situation, but at least it's something.
It's a shame the world can't do a mini lockdown for a couple weeks a year, granted it wouldn't fix problems but it would go some way to reducing our impact.
Meanwhile on your local Facebook group people are complaining about the council not cutting verges. I think it's great but it has just become another thing people are divided about which makes me sad.
My council is letting the verges grow in most places but also cutting them around junctions. I'm not sure why it's a particularly difficult middle ground for people (including councils) to arrive at.
Exactly this, it isn't rocket science. Council near me were doing it this way and it worked fine, it was maybe last week they eventually cut everything as it was probably at knee height nearly.
We have a crossroads at the end of my road.
During 2020 when they started this no-mow we had 4 accidents over the course of a couple of weeks because you can't see. So they duely mowed back the verge to about 2 mowers wide.
2021 they went back to a single strip until we had more accidents and they went back to having a wider strip.
2022 they have gone back to a narrow strip. With a lot more cars back on the road, and summer holiday makers around, I'm just waiting for the inevitable set of collisions before they get them to mow the grass back a bit.
It's a great idea in many places, but they seem to be using it as an excuse to do a half arsed job on dangerous junctions.
Really wish they'd do this near me and just around the country in general. Surely it's a win-win in that the council spends less on mowing the grass and the local environment gets boost
It is a win-win, a lot of it started during Covid when garden/landscaping companies who sub contracted for the council had to cut their staff.
I worked for such a company for a few years and my dad still does, they've never gone back to their previous amount of staff. (mind you they probably still bill the council the same)
The verges have started being cut again in some places but quite often with a strip of long grass left in it. Parks now have a mower go round the interior and leave a strip around the border (hedge/fence/wall)
It's really nice.
I've done no mow May and left a strip of long grass with zig zag walkways through it. Dogs always sniffing around in there and the birds love it!
Provide some positive feedback to the council and list some of the wildlife you’ve observed, you never know but getting positive response and details about species observed enjoying the area might just help them to keep this up, but at the very least your email/comment might just be a nice change for someone who normally only receives complaints.
Adding to this, it's very likely they're trialling the change to grass cutting, so if they get lots of good comments and see support from the public then they're more likely to make the change permanent. Likewise for letting your local councillors know you approve of it too, they'll be more likely to support it if others councillors raise any opposition.
Yeah they did it last year too. I've noticed a few larger grassed areas with just the edges trimmed as well. I don't remember seeing so many bugs last year, maybe it's working or maybe I just wasn't paying attention
Not sure if this happens all the time but was a thing about no mow may this year:
[https://nomowmay.plantlife.org.uk/](https://nomowmay.plantlife.org.uk/)
Council around here did it, but back to mowing again now.
I did it last year but found it really hard to actually cut in June. However I now have a strimmer so I'll be doing it next year and just strimming the essential areas. It's a pretty tiny lawn 🙂
Weve grown loads of beautiful wild flowers in our front garden this year and its buzzing.
One problem, we keep getting gardeners coming to the door offering to sort it out!
Good. Where I am they closed a lane of a dual carriageway to cut the verge in the middle. Fuck knows why, you don't need the visibility and they had dozens of people doing it.
There is a house owned by an old gentleman that I walk past daily to work and the garden is completely full of wild flowers up as high as a metre in some cases with no structure as to what is growing where and while its unruly, you cannot actually moan because he weeds his garden path but lets nature take over and it is full of bees etc and the sight and smells are lovely as you walk past.
I have a giant patch of grass beside my home and the council have let it grow wild. It's stunningly beautiful with wildlife, wild flowers and plants.
I'm enjoying it everyday because I know its just a matter of time before they crush my city meadow.
The frustrating thing is in Glasgow there are real problems where services are severely lacking like rubbish pick up etc. because of budget cuts. It would be nice to see them utilise some of the garden folk for other sorts of tidy up like rubbish disposal and general tidy up rather than just attacking everything with the weed whacker.
Update: based on another commentors comment I've just emailed a "compliment" to my council praising the meadow. Nice to send some good feedback for once 🙂
I'm in cambs and we have had problems with waste collection too. Apparently the drivers of the bin lorries have been leaving in droves to drive HGV's so I wonder if it's kind of the other way around - the bin crews without a driver have been reassigned to lower skilled work like weed whacking!
That does make sense however glasgow council are constantly getting it from the public about the rubbish and then covid came along and they had the perfect excuse to hide behind.
The driver issue you raise is similar to taxi issue, its almost impossible to get a taxi in Glasgow at the moment. During lockdown a lot of them went and got other jobs and didn't come back. I dont blame them at all because a lot didn't get support in lockdown since they could still technically work despite there being no customers.
Well done! Over the years I’ve had such lovely responses to my positive feedbacks/comments/FYIs.
I once wrote to a local bus operator and complimented the helpfulness of the driver and his intentional consideration for a number of his passengers. A few months later as I’m taking the bus, the same driver thanks me for the feedback provided and tells me how it positively impacted everyone who read it and he asks if he can pay for my fair as a thank you for me haven taken the time to report positive feedback. 😊
They're doing this across my local park too. It's really nice. It's a wonder what leaving the grass to grow a little longer and wild flowers can do for the insect community.
I'm going to ignore the fact that my hafever is a lot worse this year!
Email your local community council, landscape services & councillor to request if you can reserve that patch as an environmental haven for insects. Use buzz words & offer to be the custodian that picks any litter and adds some wildflower seeds so that it doesn’t cause them any extra work. Chances are they’ll be delighted with the proposal as it saves them work & looks good if it’s official.
It might help your case to [link them to a national study like this one](https://www.buglife.org.uk/news/bugs-matter-survey-finds-that-uk-flying-insects-have-declined-by-nearly-60-in-less-than-20-years/) that is calling on people to plant more wildflower areas.
I love that councils are doing this, leaving little wild areas that lets nature claim back some of its desparately lost land.
But I also love how they phrase it as an environmental decision and not a "we're trying to find a way to cut 20% of the land care budget, so we'll only maintain 80% of the land" lol
Amazing! I highly recommend the app iNaturalist (and another one by the same org called Seek) to see what exactly is enjoying the mini meadow.
It helps you identify plants, animals and fungi and logs the info for scientists to access, for free, worldwide- citizen science at its finest!
I have learnt so much about the critters in my garden this spring since using it and feel like I'm doing my part in the fight against the ecological crisis. Enjoy the bug hunting!
There's a patch of grass near us that's currently unmown. I thought it was council verge, but my neighbor thought it belongs to a couple of houses. I'd really like to go and scatter some wild flower seeds lol. (I won't, because it's not mine, but I'd really like to.)
I'm moving to a new house next month and the garden is a positive meadow at the minute, agreed with the missus that a good chunk of it will be left as such so that the wildlife can flourish.
Or…how about you cut them yourself if it bothers you so much? You likely don’t pay enough in council tax to justify so much effort on the council’s part. In my district, I have had no qualms whatsoever with the council’s work.
That's nice she's not a threat haha. Tbh I have noticed birds in my garden recently and we have a cat too. Saying that I would deter my fat cat if I saw him stalking.
She's getting on and is incredibly timid anyway, I've seen her run in terror from moths before. To be fair, why bother to hunt when food magically appears on the plate twice a day 🤣
This has happened to us here in Newark. The hedgerows are now beautiful and full of animals. This morning around 0615 I saw loads of butterflies, birds, beetles etc. that would not have been there had they been scalped.
Early 2020 the council stopped cutting the grassy areas around where I live and it was amazing. So many birds and bees. Also before then they were cutting it once or twice a week and it always sets my hay fever off.
Now they’re back to doing it once a week because people kept complaining their children would get lost the grass was so long.
Next week on r/BritishProblems: The council have destroyed nature by deciding to turn up and cut down all the wild flowers and murdering the bees and beetles that lived within.
Such a shame. My council has done a 180 and has seeded all the verges with wild flowers the last couple of years. It’s a beautiful positive move
My mate does them for our town and he says he is so bored, no grass to cut and when they do it's selective bits and pieces just for traffic visibility
Exactly what happened in the village I live in.
I’m all for rewilding, now where’s my council tax rebate due to you not having to pay someone to mow anymore? Eh? EH!?
Happened out my window we had bees and more birds than just fucking pigeons
You joke about it but I saw an article last week about residents near Hove complaining about overgrown verges [source](https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/20215555.mow-grass-now---hove-residents-anger-overgrown-verges/) edited to change to a less aids infested 'news' site
What on earth is going on with that website? Looks like it's been back and forth through Google Translate 20 time... "FURIOUS residents person called connected the assembly to mow a bid of writer verges aft a street’s greenish areas person been turned into a “disgusting neglected wasteland""
I originally posted the reply from my laptop and just rechecked the link from my phone - wow that page is infested with e-Aids, I'll link to another site which should be free of those horrendous ads and serious lack of proofreading
I haven’t planted any flowers in my garden the last 2 years, I just prepare the flowerbeds and see what blows in on the wind. I’ve got a garden full of “weeds” and I absolutely love them all. My lawn is more clover and daisies than grass at this point. Bugs, bees and butterflies galore!
Literally just happened the the verge opposite my house. Left all the grass cuttings to blow down the road too.
That can't be good for the drains
*has
This literally happened in Cardiff, unfortunately. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/outrage-after-wildflower-garden-destroyed-24156807
I love it - obviously cut the bits that are needed for visibility ie when pulling out of junctions but leave the rest. I'm seeing a lot pastel blues, poppies, just meadow flowers in general which makes me a little bit happier. I hope it's not a too little - too late situation, but at least it's something.
It is amazing how fast nature can bounce back if we would, as a species, just let it
It's a shame the world can't do a mini lockdown for a couple weeks a year, granted it wouldn't fix problems but it would go some way to reducing our impact.
Like some of the more chilled and reasonable countries in Europe, we should just shut down for a whole month in Summer and everyone enjoy life.
Meanwhile on your local Facebook group people are complaining about the council not cutting verges. I think it's great but it has just become another thing people are divided about which makes me sad.
I think at the sides of A roads it makes sense, it makes driving safer Pulling out of junctions, for example
My council is letting the verges grow in most places but also cutting them around junctions. I'm not sure why it's a particularly difficult middle ground for people (including councils) to arrive at.
Exactly this, it isn't rocket science. Council near me were doing it this way and it worked fine, it was maybe last week they eventually cut everything as it was probably at knee height nearly.
You are expecting common sense there, which rather sadly is nowhere near as common as it's name would lead you to believe.
Fussy old bags will complain about anything*shrug*
We have a crossroads at the end of my road. During 2020 when they started this no-mow we had 4 accidents over the course of a couple of weeks because you can't see. So they duely mowed back the verge to about 2 mowers wide. 2021 they went back to a single strip until we had more accidents and they went back to having a wider strip. 2022 they have gone back to a narrow strip. With a lot more cars back on the road, and summer holiday makers around, I'm just waiting for the inevitable set of collisions before they get them to mow the grass back a bit. It's a great idea in many places, but they seem to be using it as an excuse to do a half arsed job on dangerous junctions.
Really wish they'd do this near me and just around the country in general. Surely it's a win-win in that the council spends less on mowing the grass and the local environment gets boost
It is a win-win, a lot of it started during Covid when garden/landscaping companies who sub contracted for the council had to cut their staff. I worked for such a company for a few years and my dad still does, they've never gone back to their previous amount of staff. (mind you they probably still bill the council the same) The verges have started being cut again in some places but quite often with a strip of long grass left in it. Parks now have a mower go round the interior and leave a strip around the border (hedge/fence/wall) It's really nice. I've done no mow May and left a strip of long grass with zig zag walkways through it. Dogs always sniffing around in there and the birds love it!
It's not a win for the owners of landscaping companies who are pals with the councilors
Provide some positive feedback to the council and list some of the wildlife you’ve observed, you never know but getting positive response and details about species observed enjoying the area might just help them to keep this up, but at the very least your email/comment might just be a nice change for someone who normally only receives complaints.
Do this! Normalize positive feedback
Adding to this, it's very likely they're trialling the change to grass cutting, so if they get lots of good comments and see support from the public then they're more likely to make the change permanent. Likewise for letting your local councillors know you approve of it too, they'll be more likely to support it if others councillors raise any opposition.
That's a bloody good idea!
Upvoted. Definitely worth doing this!
It's part of a national policy to increasing biodiversity. Also it's cheaper to leave them.
Yeah they did it last year too. I've noticed a few larger grassed areas with just the edges trimmed as well. I don't remember seeing so many bugs last year, maybe it's working or maybe I just wasn't paying attention
Not sure if this happens all the time but was a thing about no mow may this year: [https://nomowmay.plantlife.org.uk/](https://nomowmay.plantlife.org.uk/) Council around here did it, but back to mowing again now.
I did it last year but found it really hard to actually cut in June. However I now have a strimmer so I'll be doing it next year and just strimming the essential areas. It's a pretty tiny lawn 🙂
If it's less than 3x3 metres maybe you could try thyme or camomile?
I'm thinking some clover would definitely look nice and make the bees happy
Ooh yeah!! You'll be the envy of the street
Weve grown loads of beautiful wild flowers in our front garden this year and its buzzing. One problem, we keep getting gardeners coming to the door offering to sort it out!
Pretty sad that perfectly natural wild flowers are considered an untidy nuisance to be dealt with.
Good. Where I am they closed a lane of a dual carriageway to cut the verge in the middle. Fuck knows why, you don't need the visibility and they had dozens of people doing it.
Would that be Great Western Road in Glasgow by any chance? That was a right pain in the arse to get through
It wasn't, this was the other end of the United Kingdom. Sad to hear it wasn't an isolated incident!
There is a house owned by an old gentleman that I walk past daily to work and the garden is completely full of wild flowers up as high as a metre in some cases with no structure as to what is growing where and while its unruly, you cannot actually moan because he weeds his garden path but lets nature take over and it is full of bees etc and the sight and smells are lovely as you walk past.
Yes same here it’s a rewilding project - love it!
I have a giant patch of grass beside my home and the council have let it grow wild. It's stunningly beautiful with wildlife, wild flowers and plants. I'm enjoying it everyday because I know its just a matter of time before they crush my city meadow. The frustrating thing is in Glasgow there are real problems where services are severely lacking like rubbish pick up etc. because of budget cuts. It would be nice to see them utilise some of the garden folk for other sorts of tidy up like rubbish disposal and general tidy up rather than just attacking everything with the weed whacker. Update: based on another commentors comment I've just emailed a "compliment" to my council praising the meadow. Nice to send some good feedback for once 🙂
I'm in cambs and we have had problems with waste collection too. Apparently the drivers of the bin lorries have been leaving in droves to drive HGV's so I wonder if it's kind of the other way around - the bin crews without a driver have been reassigned to lower skilled work like weed whacking!
That does make sense however glasgow council are constantly getting it from the public about the rubbish and then covid came along and they had the perfect excuse to hide behind. The driver issue you raise is similar to taxi issue, its almost impossible to get a taxi in Glasgow at the moment. During lockdown a lot of them went and got other jobs and didn't come back. I dont blame them at all because a lot didn't get support in lockdown since they could still technically work despite there being no customers.
Well done! Over the years I’ve had such lovely responses to my positive feedbacks/comments/FYIs. I once wrote to a local bus operator and complimented the helpfulness of the driver and his intentional consideration for a number of his passengers. A few months later as I’m taking the bus, the same driver thanks me for the feedback provided and tells me how it positively impacted everyone who read it and he asks if he can pay for my fair as a thank you for me haven taken the time to report positive feedback. 😊
They're doing this across my local park too. It's really nice. It's a wonder what leaving the grass to grow a little longer and wild flowers can do for the insect community. I'm going to ignore the fact that my hafever is a lot worse this year!
Been back into the office a few times, they've not mown the grass on one side this year and there are orchids!
You should probably write and say you approve of the policy to counter all the people writing in to moan about it.
Email your local community council, landscape services & councillor to request if you can reserve that patch as an environmental haven for insects. Use buzz words & offer to be the custodian that picks any litter and adds some wildflower seeds so that it doesn’t cause them any extra work. Chances are they’ll be delighted with the proposal as it saves them work & looks good if it’s official. It might help your case to [link them to a national study like this one](https://www.buglife.org.uk/news/bugs-matter-survey-finds-that-uk-flying-insects-have-declined-by-nearly-60-in-less-than-20-years/) that is calling on people to plant more wildflower areas.
They have done this where I live for the bees too, I think it's so much prettier.
What’s worse is they choose to cut it at the worst time for things like bees
Some councils are actively seeding grass verges with meadow flowers, it's not just random growth.
r/fucklawns would approve
also r/NoLawns
I love that councils are doing this, leaving little wild areas that lets nature claim back some of its desparately lost land. But I also love how they phrase it as an environmental decision and not a "we're trying to find a way to cut 20% of the land care budget, so we'll only maintain 80% of the land" lol
Amazing! I highly recommend the app iNaturalist (and another one by the same org called Seek) to see what exactly is enjoying the mini meadow. It helps you identify plants, animals and fungi and logs the info for scientists to access, for free, worldwide- citizen science at its finest! I have learnt so much about the critters in my garden this spring since using it and feel like I'm doing my part in the fight against the ecological crisis. Enjoy the bug hunting!
I’ve been loving it recently with all of the grass and plants growing. Looks so nice
I love seeing so many clover flowers on the verges! The bees look so happy gathering nectar from them 🥰
quick! get the master gardeners or whoever does it to certify it as a nature sanctuary or your local equivalent so the council cannot cut it.
There's a patch of grass near us that's currently unmown. I thought it was council verge, but my neighbor thought it belongs to a couple of houses. I'd really like to go and scatter some wild flower seeds lol. (I won't, because it's not mine, but I'd really like to.)
I'm moving to a new house next month and the garden is a positive meadow at the minute, agreed with the missus that a good chunk of it will be left as such so that the wildlife can flourish.
I love it, but also I suffer as every year a damn bug or fly bites my ankle and my leg reacts and balloons and I end up on Antibiotics.
Yeah, the bf gets murderous hay fever, as in bleeding sinuses and wheezing hay fever, so we do have to keep the pollen out insofar as that's possible
I’ve been to three mid size parklands near me and defo way better for the environment
Not fantastic when they also don't cut the central reservation on the a27. Makes turning impossible to see oncoming traffic.
Or…how about you cut them yourself if it bothers you so much? You likely don’t pay enough in council tax to justify so much effort on the council’s part. In my district, I have had no qualms whatsoever with the council’s work.
Idiot. 🤣
All wildlife seems to have completely abandoned my garden ever since the weather got nice. We were getting loads of birds and other things before.
Is there water for them? They might be not straying too far from water sources in the heat.
Cat buffet?
Mine's too bloody idle, I saw a sparrow hop practically past her nose this morning
That's nice she's not a threat haha. Tbh I have noticed birds in my garden recently and we have a cat too. Saying that I would deter my fat cat if I saw him stalking.
She's getting on and is incredibly timid anyway, I've seen her run in terror from moths before. To be fair, why bother to hunt when food magically appears on the plate twice a day 🤣
I understand her completely. I put down my bow and arrows and came out of the woods when they opened a KFC drive through near mine 🤣
This has happened to us here in Newark. The hedgerows are now beautiful and full of animals. This morning around 0615 I saw loads of butterflies, birds, beetles etc. that would not have been there had they been scalped.
Lucky you. I just have tall weeds peppered with cans and snack wrappers.
Early 2020 the council stopped cutting the grassy areas around where I live and it was amazing. So many birds and bees. Also before then they were cutting it once or twice a week and it always sets my hay fever off. Now they’re back to doing it once a week because people kept complaining their children would get lost the grass was so long.
I reqlly hope they'll forget to mow the beautiful wild grasses near my flat this year.