Community invited to get involved with mapping Thanet's wildflower areas

Last year, Thanet District Council created wildflower patches in a number of parks across the district. It also assisted schools and churches to create their own pollinator patches.

Now it wants to know about your wonderful wildflower patches!

If you are a school, town/parish council, community group or have a large wildflower patch in your back garden you can tell them about it using this link: https://biodiversity-and-green-initiatives-thanetdc.hub.arcgis.com/

It only takes a few minutes and then we can add your wildflower patch to the interactive map.

The wildflower areas created by or assisted by the council are located at:

• Tivoli Park, Margate - the largest of the wildflower meadows stretching the width of the park
• Lymington Road, Westgate-on-Sea
• War Memorial Banks, Westgate-on-Sea
• King Ethelbert’s School, Birchington
• Ramsgate Cemetery, Ramsgate
• Ramsgate Arts Primary School, Ramsgate
• St Laurence Churchyard, Ramsgate

Your help is needed

All of the above areas are on the map and now input from the community is needed to help map all of the areas for pollinators across Thanet. The added benefit of this project is being able to see what other people are doing and to get inspired.

Please click on the link and add your details. It only takes a few minutes.

No Mow May

Last year, Thanet District Council trialled No Mow May which was an ambitious project to see if it could include the conservation charity, Plant Life, annual scheme into Thanet’s parks and open spaces. The scheme proved difficult to manage on such a large scale and seemed to be more suited to areas that can be mowed as soon as the grass grows long at the end of May or the beginning of June.

It takes the team three weeks to cut the whole isle’s grass from start to finish (for example, starting in Ramsgate and finishing in Minnis Bay). This meant that some areas were left for three additional weeks, after the month of no mowing. The areas that were left for seven weeks became too overgrown and the long grass was extremely difficult to cut, even with the varied fleet of mowers that the team routinely uses.

Therefore, this year, the council will concentrate on maintaining the successful wildflower patches which will benefit pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

It is still encouraging people to try No Mow May in their own gardens, in school playing grounds and community grounds. As these tend to be smaller and more manageable areas, they can be mowed before the grass grows too long. Find out more at www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/no-mow-may

Cllr George Kup, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Youth Engagement at Thanet District Council said:

“Since the council declared a climate emergency in 2019, we have resolved to protect and improve Thanet’s biodiversity. I would like to encourage as many people as possible to play their part in the creation of a map of wildflower patches throughout Thanet.

“We want to see and promote all the good work that individuals and groups are doing across the district and hope it will inspire others to take part too. This interactive map will also enable our Climate Change officer to see where pollinators have lots of flowers to feed from and where they need more.”

For more information, please contact [email protected] or 01843 577034