Rewilding, a group of residents in Derbyshire fight back.

We now have an invasive weed growing in our canal. The fear is that it is also growing in the drainage ditches that protect the village from flooding. The Canal Trust are a charity with limited resources and no one is sure if they are responsible or the Environment agency. I’m worried that it will result in buck passing. Either way flooding must surely be damaging to the flora and fauna of this country and everything that can be done to prevent it should be. Can’t help but feel that this weed is a result of no mow May, June, July…I did see a grass verge in Kelso full of the sort of wild flowers that should be a result of rewinding, not the invasive weeds that are growing everywhere unchecked.

I don't mind rewilding if it's done properly but just leaving grass to grow on verges is a mess. People also don't clear weeds from the perimeter of houses now and it is just a mess all the way along the pavement breaking up the paving in places. DH likes a neat garden where everything is cut back when it starts to grow. I'm the opposite and would love a wilder country garden but it's his pride and Joy so just leave it to him.

I cut the grass outside mine and my neighbour's houses that belongs to the council, in 12 years they've never cut it. I also litter and dog poo pick and kill the weeds, I can't bear all the overgrown untidy furniture strewn gardens on my street (huge council estate)

As Allira posted
There's rewilding and then there's neglected and overgrown.

Unfortunately my garden is looking like the latter since all that rain.
Some of the weeds are quite pretty so why wouldn't they grow in a small area I did want to rewild?

There is a field near us now totally overgrown with brambles, rosebay willow herb, convolvulus and nettles except for two paths kept clear by walkers. That’s not a problem.
The plants and grasses including nettles which obscure the road signs, and the view at road junctions, narrow the width of the pavements and break up the pavement surface are a problem.
As Allira posted
There's rewilding and then there's neglected and overgrown.

I have to praise the work of the council who have recently cut down and removed all the grasses and weeds alongside and in the brook, which meant that the recent heavy rainfall didn’t flood the road again.

There is nothing beneficial in a grass lawn.

Grass absorbs carbon as well as rain.

Better a grass lawn than a hard surface.

Spencer2009

My sister lives in Arizona, if you don’t keep your front garden clean and tidy you receive a warning, then a fine if you ignore.

HOA s are a menace to the environment. No one I know wants to live there as they dictate all kinds of nonsense besides gardening. Usually in golf communities where the golf courses are heavily maintained with pesticides which is harmful to all.

Babs03

I could be wrong but the rewilding or neglecting grassy areas in order to save money, doesn't result in meadow like growth in public grassy areas near us, no pretty meadow flowers inviting insects, just ugly coarse grass and flowerless weeds that look ragged and shabby.

Not all beneficial weeds are pretty looking, sorry, but sometimes we have to choose reality.
There is nothing beneficial in a grass lawn. There are many attractive alternatives like clover or creeping thyme.
We must start now as more and more land is built on our eco system is being destroyed. In the USA the bird population is down 50 percent .

I could be wrong but the rewilding or neglecting grassy areas in order to save money, doesn't result in meadow like growth in public grassy areas near us, no pretty meadow flowers inviting insects, just ugly coarse grass and flowerless weeds that look ragged and shabby.

MissAdventure

Well, the washing line area is no longer re-wilding, here.
It's been done.

glad to hear that.. let's hope for some sunshine now...

Some of the residents here are very proactive and a group (including some who are/were local councillors ) have planted wild flowers, fruit trees etc.

Where I used to live some residents would plant bedding plants at the base of the several trees along the street until.........the council sent every household a letter informing us that what we were doing was considered to be vandalism as the trees were council property, being part of a public place, and unless we stopped immediately we could all be sued.

Local government Jobsworths!

Well, the washing line area is no longer re-wilding, here.
It's been done.

MayBee70

MissInterpreted

Rewilding is all well and good, but there have to be some limits. When it is left to the extent that road signs and lines of visibility for road users are obscured, or drains choked with weeds, then it becomes a matter of safety. And don't get me started on ragwort - I have a friend who lost a horse to ragwort poisoning!

I keep seeing comments on Facebook defending ragwort that are always full of comments from people whose horses have died horribly from ragwort poisoning

There's one man in particular who seems to have made it his mission to comment on any post about ragwort, especially to do with horses. He completely refutes any suggestion that any horse has ever died from ragwort poisoning, when many horse owners can sadly attest to the opposite being true.

MissInterpreted

Rewilding is all well and good, but there have to be some limits. When it is left to the extent that road signs and lines of visibility for road users are obscured, or drains choked with weeds, then it becomes a matter of safety. And don't get me started on ragwort - I have a friend who lost a horse to ragwort poisoning!

I keep seeing comments on Facebook defending ragwort that are always full of comments from people whose horses have died horribly from ragwort poisoning

Exactly, Allira!

Just before the election we saw street cleaners and council mowers at work for the first time in years … possibly since the last election. Ffs , give me a break !

MissInterpreted

Rewilding is all well and good, but there have to be some limits. When it is left to the extent that road signs and lines of visibility for road users are obscured, or drains choked with weeds, then it becomes a matter of safety. And don't get me started on ragwort - I have a friend who lost a horse to ragwort poisoning!

There's rewilding and then there's neglected and overgrown.

The two are not the same thing at all.

Syracute

Ragwort has its benefits as well . Yes, proper control is necessary. I can only suggest people read more of the RHS and RPBS to educate yourselves more on how important uncultivated areas are. I know it goes against tradition but there is no time to waste . I let large parts of my yard go wild and plant various plants that are important to the wildlife . I had just started recently and the difference of how many butterflies, moths and bees insight are amazing.

Ragwort needs to be pulled up and burned as it kills horses and cattle. Each plant sheds thousands of seeds, all blown for miles and they then reach other previously unaffected areas.

I watch from year to year the spread of ragwort and it is horrific how quickly it spreads. New year, new field full or roadside.

What country are you in Syracute? In the UK it is supposed to be an offence punishable by hefty fines if you allow ragwort to grow on your property. Only a certain type of moth is drawn to ragwort. Horrible stuff.

MissAdventure

Piles. Or pies, I guess.

Piles of Woolton Pies.

When the Labour government get time to look at the Agriculture Census next June they are going to panic, many thousands of acres are going into environmental schemes, whole estates are being entered, instead of crops.
Why grow crops when bees and birds will give the same income.
Maybe it’s a little trap the Tories have set.

Rewilding is all well and good, but there have to be some limits. When it is left to the extent that road signs and lines of visibility for road users are obscured, or drains choked with weeds, then it becomes a matter of safety. And don't get me started on ragwort - I have a friend who lost a horse to ragwort poisoning!

Piles. Or pies, I guess.

It's good to have a compost heap, but I wouldn't want the council to tell everyone to leave pies of veg peelings and newspapers outside my flat.