Who did this? This is eco crime.

The nettles in the verge at the bottom of New Road were teeming with peacock butterfly caterpillars, last summer my bungalow back roof was covered with hundreds of peacock butterflies sunning themselves.  I was going to cut down and tidy the verge in late August as I usually do.  Instead, I came out today to find a huge mess where someone has destroyed this whole eco system too early with a strimmer, leaving a huge ugly mess, they couldn't be even bothered picking up the Regatta bottles and rubbish thrown in the nettles, they were more concerned with appearance than glass hazards.  Nor could they be bothered to cut back the growth at Mill Road junction stopping everybody turning right from New Road whilst they were there, they are more concerned with aesthetics than safety.  People are so obsessed with aesthetics, they care more about tidiness than our struggling diversity.  Our great grandchildren will live in a world devoid of insects and birds.

Posted by: Elaine Fowler | 17/07/2025 12:17 pm

Can I please remind everyone that if you really must cut down stinging nettles please don't do it till late August, the Peacock butterfly caterpillars pupate in July and emerge as adults two weeks later in July or August. I was so looking forward to having scores of them sunbathing on my garden wall and back roof again, that won't be happening now.  They are also food for birds.  The nuthatches who normally survive on insects in the summer and visit the fat ball and seed feeders in the winter are already on my feeders, they cannot find enough insects.  Ditto wrens, they are desperate, they are in my feeding area for the first time ever this summer because they can't find enough insects.  We have lost most of our insects in the UK in just a few decades, maybe as many as 75% to 90%.

Posted by: Elaine Fowler | 17/07/2025 9:30 pm

It's a shame but the shaved, scorched grass verge does seem preferable to some than what appears to be a mess but is actually serving a vital purpose. This must be very upsetting for you. We don't use any weedkillers or insecticides and now have 3 hedgehogs that visit our garden so we don't have many slugs or snails either.

It' s good to see there are like minded people in the village. Weedkillers are very dangerous and shouldn't be used at all.

Keep up the good work.

Posted by: ANDREA GARTON | 17/07/2025 1:38 pm

What is even more frustrating about this verge is that I have the skill and knowledge to turn it into a stunning flower meadow but when I started the process years ago with yellow rattle seeds to weaken the grass and polite 'Keep Off' notices, people stole the signs, trampled all over the verge and let their dogs poo on it.  Villagers would rather see scorched grass shaved to within a millimetre of it's life snuffing out all pollinators and wildlife rather than a wildflower meadow.

Posted by: Elaine Fowler | 17/07/2025 1:30 pm

I am so upset Andrea, it was such a shock to come out and find this, and if it's the person who I think it is from The Parish Council I had already explained to them about the caterpillars and insect life before. I phoned SODC, it's not them.  I have managed to get SOHA to stop spraying the Westfield Crescent garage area and my back fence and soil border here with toxic herbicides as they have done for 20+ years as I have CLL leukaemia and tens of thousands of Americans with CLL have successfully sued over Roundup, there is a proven scientific link of herbicides and this cancer, perhaps SOHA caused mine.  The verge was one area I thought I could nurture and control, elsewhere in the village people are felling trees and deep hedge cutting with power tools with absolutely no adherence to the law, to The Wildlife Act, in bird nesting season, they just don't care.

Posted by: Elaine Fowler | 17/07/2025 12:48 pm

Well said Elaine. this obsession with "neatness" is destroying eco systems as you say. I fear for my grandsons and what they will have to endure in the future. We created a large wildlife pond during lockdown that is teeming with insects and this year we had visiting Swallows. We garden certain areas but leave other areas i.e. our drive to grow wild. there is lots of Cow Parsley in the spring supporting many insects .

The verge at the end of our driveway in Plough Lane is left wild. It has lots of wild flowers and yes it does look a mess at the moment but does it matter?

Posted by: ANDREA GARTON | 17/07/2025 12:27 pm