New meadow will create a buzz at Bo’ness Station

The RSPB's Dan Brown helps prepare the ground for the wildflower meadow. Photo David Palmar/www.photoscot.co.uk

Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway has joined up with theIFLI to create a new wildflower meadow that will make Bo’ness Station and Museum of Scottish Railways a haven for wildlife and a beautiful place for people to visit by next summer.

The work is taking place as part of IFLI’s RSPB-led Wildlife Connections project, which works with landowners around the inner Forth to help them make their land better for wildlife.  The meadow is being planted because we have lost 97% of our wildflower meadows in the UK since the 1930s, with a massive 40% lost in Scotland in just over 20 years to 2005. As a result we have also lost more than two thirds of our wild bees, butterflies and other insects, which rely on this once-common habitat to nest and feed. As these creatures are also vital pollinators of the crops that we need to feed ourselves, it is crucial that we find ways to bring back our wildflowers.

Working in partnership with the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway, IFLI has planted a wildflower meadow along the path to the entrance of the museum.  It hopes to plant more around Bo’ness station in spring next year. Beyond the benefits this will provide to our native plants and animals, at the height of summer - when wildflowers are in full bloom - the riot of colour and the buzz and hum of the insects will provide a stunning display that should delight visitors to the museum.

The RSPB’s David Anderson said:  “It is great to be working with Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway (BKR) to create new wildflower meadows around Bo’ness station. The meadows will look spectacular when they are in bloom, but even more importantly, the Railway will be making a significant contribution to improving the site for the bees, butterflies and other wildlife that are having such a hard time at the moment. We hope that through working with us, BKR will help to show other landowners the benefits of creating these wildlife meadows for people and wildlife. We would be delighted to hear from any other landowners or managers around the Inner Forth area who would like to find out more about how they too can create a meadow.”

Julia Stephen of the Bo’ness & Kinneil Raiway, added: ‘We’re pleased to be part of this project and can’t wait for Spring to see the wildflower meadows start to grow.’

To find out more about the Wildlife Connections project please contact David Anderson, RSPB Futurescapes Officer, on david.anderson@rspb.org.uk, tel 01324 832853.

To find out more about Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway, contact enquiries@srps.org.uk or look at their website, www.bkrailway.com