Bonkers botany in King's Lynn

These originally bare strips had gradually been colonised by an interesting variety of wild plants. On a recent visit I spotted an unusual species of clover. The following day, I returned to photograph it – only to find that nearly all of the soil strips had been rotovated, and the flora destroyed.

I then made a quick count of the plants in a few areas which had not been destroyed and found a total of 75 species – a remarkable total, from a half-hour of recording, given the very small area involved. Moreover I also found several plants of a species which, if identified correctly, is so rare that it has not been seen in Norfolk since 1938.

Prominent amongst the self-seeded plant species growing in the Lynnsport car park were members of the pea family, notably clovers and vetches. These are important nectar providers for butterflies, bees, bumblebees and hover flies. Members of the pea family also help to ‘fix’ atmospheric nitrogen. Nitrate pollution, from car exhausts, is a major health problem in the UK, one which successive governments have failed to tackle. Providing nectar, and cleaning the air, are important ecosystem services provided by plants.

I asked a workman on the site why these areas had been ploughed up, and was told that it was being prepared for the sowing of a wild flower mix! So, a rich flora which had arisen spontaneously, and cost nothing, had been destroyed in order for a company to come in (at what cost?) and sow wild flowers.

Am I alone in thinking this is an absurd waste of public money? And indicative of the fact that the authorities have not really grasped the essential facts regarding the importance of maintaining biodiversity?

I suspect that the spontaneous flora was regarded as weeds, which needed to be replaced by officially sanctioned wild flowers such as oxeye daisies and knapweed. Natural processes will colonise any bare soil, and the greater the variety of plants present, the greater the diversity of insects, which in turn help to support a greater number of birds and other forms of wildlife. Unfortunately too many people seem to regard wild plants growing in urban areas as weeds when the same plants, growing in the countryside are treasured as wild flowers.