Wildflower meadows are an amazing habitat.
They're full of plants, and provide food
and shelter for insects and many other animals.
They are a haven for wildlife and herald the start of spring.
In the UK, they are an essential landscape, but sadly,
they’re slowly diminishing.
Since the 1930s we've lost 97 percent of our wildflower meadows.
In this video, we're going to share our top ten reasons why wildflowers are
so important and what we're doing to save them.
Fact one
The plants are our stars.
Our wildflower meadows have been developing over thousands of years
through the gentle cutting
and grazing of our grasslands.
This is created fields filled with a huge variety of native wildflowers
blooming from spring to autumn in a spectacular array of colours and shapes.
And so many of these native wildflowers, like geraniums and bellflowers
have had their best features developed by plant breeders
and are part of our everyday garden favorites today.
Fact two
They're great for biodiversity.
A single wildflower meadow, can support over 100 different species of wildflowers,
which in turn creates a vital habitat for insects and many other animals.
Fact three
They buddy up
These ancient native flowers
have evolved over millennia alongside our insects,
mammals and birds. Many native wildflowers have grown to be
particularly attractive to certain pollinators
and some insects can be picky eaters.
Fact four
They provide food
Wildflowers provide bees, butterflies
and other pollinators food throughout the whole year.
Did you know, one single acre of wildflower meadow can contain up to three million flowers?
This produces up to one kilogram of nectar sugar
and can feed up to 96 thousand honeybees.
And wildflowers don't just provide food for pollinators.
Over a third of the world's food relies on insects to pollinate them.
Without them, we'd have to artificially pollinate all our favorite fruit
and veg, which would be very time consuming and very costly.
Fact five
They’re a network.
Not only are wildflower meadows a hotspot for biodiversity
they also provide vital links to connect different habitats.
Typical meadow plants also grow on roadside verges,
along hedgerows, and even in our cities,
which provide crucial green corridors for birds, bees, bats and other animals to travel along.
Fact six
They help with flooding
Established wildflower meadows have complex root systems, which makes the soil very stable.
This helps mitigate flooding as it holds onto rainwater, and stops
nutrients from washing away.
Fact seven
They can help us fight disease.
Native wildflowers can contain compounds
which have made a significant contribution to modern medicine.
Flowers such as self-heal have antibiotic properties,
and the foxglove contains a compound called digitalin which can help treat heart disease.
Fact eight
They remove pollution
Similar to other plants, wildflowers filter the air and use carbon dioxide for growth
as well as removing other harmful pollutants.
Even better, legume plants like clovers
and vetches take nitrogen from the air and turn it into vital nutrients
in the soil.
Fact nine
They are climate warriors.
Grassland soils can sequester as much carbon as woodland
and reduce greenhouse gases which helps us in the fight against climate change.
Fact 10
They’re at risk
Since the 1930s, we've lost 97 percent of our wildflower meadows, which is a staggering amount.
We need to act now before they disappear forever.
With the drive for more homegrown food
since the second world war, and agriculture intensification more generally,
our historic ancient wildflower meadows were an easy target
for ploughing baxk and spraying with pesticides.
And it's not just farming that has caused the decline of our wildflower meadows.
Property and land development,
pollution, and a decrease in traditional meadow management have all played their part.
Through our partnership with the Botanica by Air Wick,
we're aiming to restore 20 million square feet of wildflower meadow.
That's roughly the same as 260 football pitches within the next three years.
Together, we'll be working on a range of projects including establishing wildflowers on road verges,
farmland, cycle and footpaths and floodplains,
and you can join in the fight to save wildflowers too.
You can raise awareness by sharing this video with friends and family,
or you can take it one step further
and plant your own wildflowers in your green space by using the My Footprint app.
We hope that you enjoyed this video and don't forget to subscribe,
so you never miss a video.