RESIDENTS are being asked to help look after the hundreds of miles of roadside verges in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

We are very keen to get local residents actively involved in the Yorkshire Dales Road Verge Project by caring for their verges and making sure they become even better for wildlife.

James Ferguson - Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, North Yorkshire County Council and the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are working in partnership to improve the management of the road verges across the Dales.

And they are hoping to recruit groups of people to adopt stretches near their homes.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Conservation Officer James Ferguson, who is leading the project, said: “The road verges in the Yorkshire Dales are very species-rich and provide a natural display from spring to late summer with a beautiful array of colours from bright yellow primroses to the spectacular blue of meadow cranesbill.

“The project is working to look after these fantastic verges by improving the way they are cut, preventing physical damage and by removing clippings that reduce nutrients, so allowing flowering plants to compete with grasses.

“We are very keen to get local residents actively involved in the Yorkshire Dales Road Verge Project by caring for their verges and making sure they become even better for wildlife. So, if you are thinking how best to manage the verges in your parish why not get in touch?”

The YDNPA’s Senior Ecologist Tim Thom said: “The road verges of the Dales are very special because they contain many habitats not now found in the wider countryside. They are not just home to wild flowers, but also to a wide range of insects which use these plants as nectar sources. Where cultivated flowers are planted into these verges they can spread and compete with our native wildflowers leading to their decline.”

If you know of a good wildflower verge and would like to help the project to look after it, please contact James Ferguson on 01756 751603, or roadverges@ywt.org.uk.