Nature group calls for help with key wildlife scheme

Local nature group, Wildlife Friendly Otley, is calling for more help to boost its ‘Wildlife Corridor Project’ which restores areas in and around Otley for wildlife and wildflowers to flourish. It wants more Otley residents to sign its online petition to ask Leeds City Council, which is responsible for much of the public green spaces, to make changes to grass mowing which will help our wildlife.

“Otley's wildlife like the rest of the UK is suffering badly”, said a spokesperson. “During the last twenty years since the millennium over four 40 percent of our insect population - the foundation of our environment - have been lost, due to habitat damage and destruction and use of chemicals. This has had a serious knock-on effect on wildflowers, as well as birds and small mammals further up the chain.”

The group says that incredibly simple changes in mowing can result in enough nectar for ten times more bees and other pollinators. An easy way to help restore our beleaguered wildlife is to relax mowing on verges and green spaces allowing native wildflowers and insects to flourish. This not only helps wildlife and mitigates the effects of climate change, but looks beautiful too.

Wildlife Friendly Otley is supporting these wildlife-rich areas. Many Otley institutions and businesses are now joining its ‘Wildlife Corridor Project’, and reaping the benefits. "Mohican" cuts, where a swathe of grass is left to re-wild or is sown with wildflower seeds, are massively rich in native species whilst still allowing people to continue to enjoy their green spaces. Linking them up into wildlife corridors, so that insects can travel and thrive, is an important step in restoring our environment.

“We want Leeds Council to join our project, by relaxing some of their mowing, so that we can link these important habitat swathes and throw our pollinators a lifeline!”, added the spokesperson. “ We are asking people in Otley to help us persuade them by signing the petition on change.org at http://chng.it/CmhBNdsZ2s or on the group’s Facebook page.