GrubsUp! is an exciting project on a mission to restore and connect vital wildlife sites surrounding the A170, one of the most scenic roads in North Yorkshire.
You may have already noticed wooden blue hearts staked into roadside verges. These form part of the project and are inspired by a national campaign seeking to 'Rewild Britain, garden by garden'. Our blue hearts are positioned on verges we are leaving uncut during the flowering period.
What are the benefits of leaving road verges uncut over spring and summer?
Flower rich spaces are food sources and shelter for invertebrates/insects, particularly pollinators.
They also provide a place where pollinators such as butterflies and moths will lay their eggs.
Roadside verges tend not to be improved with fertilisers, so with altered management they can quickly support a wide range of wildflowers and grasses, providing a more diverse food source for pollinators.
When managed in this way, they become the perfect connectors of grassland; they create stepping stones of habitat through a landscape, which is particularly important for insects, as many of these species are unable to travel far between available food sources and shelter.
What happens at the end of summer?
The year’s growth will be cut and removed from the verge in late July/early September. The removal is particularly important to encourage a wider range of plant species to grow the following year.
If we continue to manage verges in this way, plant diversity will improve noticeably, and they will support a wider range of invertebrates. This in turn will benefit species higher up the food chain such as birds and bats.
Create a blue heart of your own
If you’re attending a countryside show in the National Park this year, do visit our tent for a chance to design your own miniature blue heart to take home. Make the commitment to leave a section of your garden to grow, or you could even gift it to someone else and encourage them to do so too.
Here is a list of the shows we'll be attending in 2025, we hope to see you at our tent.
- Tuesday 29 July - Ryedale Show, Duncombe Park
- Wednesday 6 August - Thornton le Dale Show
- Wednesday 13 August – Danby Show
- Saturday 16 August – Rosedale Show
- Wednesday 20 August - Egton Show
- Monday 25 August (Bank Holiday) – Farndale Show
- Saturday 30 August – Bilsdale Show
- Saturday 20 September – Stokesley Show
Find out more about the GrubsUp! project on our website and the BLUE Campaign.