News: July 2003

A number of organisations headed by Plantlife International hope to identify the best areas in Britain for wildflowers characteristic of arable farmland.

These floral communities have suffered more than most since the middle of the 20th century as increasingly intensive farming pushed them first to the margins of the fields and eventually, in many cases, to local extinction. Our knowledge of where the best surviving communities are to be found is so poor that this co-ordinated effort to find them is necessary. Once found, the conservationists hope to be able to persuade landowners to take up stewardship agreements to maintain and promote their special flora.

Alex Kirby. 2003. UK search starts for farmland flowers. Viewed on the web at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3078741.stm on July 22nd 2003.