On the Verge

13 November 2020

Ten years ago On the Verge founder, Leigh Biagi, was in her kitchen making packed lunches, when she heard Professor Dave Goulson, founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, talking on the radio about declining bee numbers. On the Verge is a Stirling based, voluntary, community project established in 2010. This is her story…

I had just started studying for a degree in Environmental Studies with The Open University and was feeling a bit desperate about the state of the planet, so when I heard Dave say that several species of bumblebee had already gone extinct, and others were on the verge of extinction it really resonated with me. I thought ‘On the Verge’ would make a great name for a bee project and somebody should really set one up. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and by the end of the day, I had decided to do just that.

I explained my idea to a friend who worked in the environmental sector; she helped to gather together a group of like-minded people and ‘On the Verge’ was born!

Dave Goulson had explained in his radio interview that pollinators were beginning to gravitate towards towns and cities, as urban environments offered better food sources thanks to the British love of gardening. We decided that if bees were clever enough to adapt, then we should be clever enough to help them by providing as many areas of native wildflowers as possible.

So, we initially decided to approach schools and community councils to achieve a good geographic spread of wildflower sites throughout the city.

I was worried that nobody would be interested in the early stages, but it soon became clear that plenty of people were keen to get involved, particularly schools, and then I worried too many people would be interested and we wouldn’t be able to cope and there was certainly plenty for us to do in the first year.

The first issue that needed solving was funding. We approached ten local businesses who each donated £100 to get the project off the ground which was wonderful.

The next question to tackle was what the best seed mix to sow was. We worked closely with Scottish wildflower seed producer Scotia Seeds and a special ‘On The Verge’ wildflower mix was developed, comprising four annual species and eighteen perennial species, all native to the UK.

The final hurdle was finding someone to prepare the sites. Luckily, somebody directed us towards Stirling’s Criminal Justice Service, and they agreed to prepare the On the Verge sites for sowing.

I then decided to approach Stirling council to ask them to sow some wildflowers as well. I just wanted them to sow a couple of small, high-profile areas in support of the project. I was amazed when they agreed to establish 25 sites throughout Stirling in the first year, totalling 1,440 square metres.

That was ten years ago now, and since then we have sown a total of 10,000 square metres of native wildflowers in partnership with over 90 local organisations including 26 schools,7 nurseries, 2 care homes, 3 churches and 4 scout/guide troupes.

We are an entirely voluntary organisation and we work in three key areas; providing free seed, practical support and advice to community groups to help them sow areas of wildflowers; attending community events and giving talks to promote the work; and collating data for research projects with students from Stirling University.

We also work with community groups to improve existing wildflower meadows using seed which a few of us collect locally, and have plans to introduce ‘Bee Beds’, using nectar-rich, perennial planting as a neater alternative to wildflower patches.

Project highlights include; a Nature of Scotland award from the RSPB in the species champion section in 2011; jointly  hosting the 2015 Inspiring Meadows conference with Stirling Council, Buglife and Inner Forth Landscape Initiative; being chosen as one of the projects highlighted by Chris Packham in his 2018 UK Bioblitz campaign; and in 2020 featuring as a case study in the Wildlife Trusts Reversing the decline of Insects.

We are also branching out; in 2019 we were joined by our sister group On the Verge Cambridge and we are currently working to help set up an ‘On the Verge Perth’.

2020 has brought about some changes for On the Verge. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we weren’t able to sow with any of the schools as planned, which was a pity, but it did give more time for thinking and planning. This year grass-cutting in Stirling was delayed until June and walking around the city’s greenspaces this spring I saw wildflowers that I’ve never here seen before, because they are usually cut down before they have a chance to flower. It occurred to me that it was a bit ironic for ‘On the Verge’ to be sowing new areas of wildflowers at the same time as the council was mowing out the existing wildflowers in the grassland.

I decided to launch an online petition asking Stirling council to take a more ecological approach to manging local grassland in order to help local insect populations, particularly pollinators.

One of the most important things the petition asked the council to do was to adopt a cut and collect method of grass management. Currently when grassland is mowed the clippings are left in situ to rot down. This releases nitrogen which fertilises the grass and so it grows back vigorously and out competes the wildflowers. If the clippings are regularly lifted off-site, then over a few seasons the grass weakens allowing the wildflowers to flourish resulting in less grass, more flowers, and healthier pollinators, all because of one small change.

The petition received over 1,500 signatures and was presented at a council meeting on the 24th September where council members agreed to proceed with the recommendations made which was a fantastic response.

We have now begun to work with groups from all over the country, helping them to lobby their own local authorities for change, including groups from Cambridge, Worcester, and Perth. We are very keen to hear from more people who might be interested in improving their local areas in this way. The hope is that by working together we can persuade many other local authorities to follow Stirling council’s lead and by working collectively, we can do a great deal to protect the UK’s natural environment.

On the Verge can be contacted at enquiries@ontheverge.co.uk / Facebook  / Website

Twitter @OTVStirling