On a recent sunny morning I took a photograph of the flower bed at the Thief Lane/University Road junction.
It is overrun with ‘weeds’ which are probably Smooth hawksbeard. They were covered in bees and insects - a veritable 5-star restaurant.
I hope they don’t fall under the hands of the ‘tidy’ brigade, at least until the end of flowering. Recently St Lawrence’s Lane was being denuded of its ‘weeds’ which would have been full of insect life and berries for birds.
Native wild flowers (so-called weeds) and insect, bird and animal life evolved alongside each other and each complements the other.
The pollen and nectar of many cultivated flowering plants are simply not accessible to insects; butterflies are particularly choosy about where to lay their eggs to give the best possible start in life to their caterpillars. Wildlife doesn’t like too much tidiness.
Elizabeth Hardcastle, Thief Lane, York
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