Denbighshire’s network of county meadows has produced a first-time resident at a Denbigh wildflower meadow.
The Council recently launched the seventh year of the Wildflower Meadows Project.
Established in 2019, the project includes approximately 70 acres of native wildflower habitat supporting local nature and helping community wellbeing across the county. It has also been funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Places for Nature funding.
Biodiversity Officers recently surveyed the Ffordd y Graig meadow at Denbigh and discovered a species on the site that has never been recorded before.
They found the common dog violet, a wildflower which can provide an important source of food for rare butterflies and a host for some butterfly eggs. This plant was also used by the Ancient Greeks for herbal medicine and was believed to help cure skin diseases.
Liam Blazey, Senior Biodiversity Officer said:
“We were pleased to find the common dog violet at this Denbigh site as its evidence that our work to create a large scale connective local provenance wildflower habitat to support the movement of wildlife across the county is working.
“We’ve worked to utilise our road verges alongside town and rural wildlife meadows to create corridors for nature to thrive and move forward through and finding this plant indicates the project is making this happen.”
Emlyn Jones, Denbighshire County Council‘s Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services, said:
“This is an important find by the team as it shows the hard work to create and develop meadows across the county since the project’s start is now paying off, leaving more rich and varied habitats to benefit both local nature and communities surrounding these sites.”
