Love BUG project to improve biodiversity begins in Burgess Hill

Each verge will be marked with a blue heart.

West Sussex County Council is supporting the project by changing its mowing regime to once a year every August to allow flowers to grow and self-seed.

The aim is to improve biodiversity and to help bees, butterflies and other pollinators thrive.

WSCC and Burgess Hill Town Council are providing seed and BHTC have provided annuals to make sure there is colour in the first year.

Lee Barnett, owner of the circular economy shop eco2home at the Martlets Shopping Centre, has funded the purchase of some ‘luxury perennial mixture’.

This includes wild orchids, which will be scattered in all the verges.

“When I heard about the town council’s Love BUG project, I knew straight away that it was something we as a business wanted to get involved with,” said Lee.

“At eco2home, we have already pledged to plant 45 trees via the Woodland Trust for every one ton of waste that we are unable to recycle or reuse,” he added.

“In the future, we are going to be doing special book sales via an honesty box, where all the proceeds will go to local environmental projects such as the rewilding of the verges.”

Burgess Hill residents are encouraged to help water the verges during dry spells, take photos and look for wildlife.

BHTC said they should look out for bees, butterflies and grasshoppers, and record their sightings on the iRecord app if possible.

Mid Sussex District Council are using a more ‘hands-off’ re-wilding approach to some patches in Burgess Hill.

Certain areas will be roped off and nature will be allowed to take its course with mowing only once a year.

These patches will be marked with a blue heart as well.

Find out more about the Blue Heart Campaign here or visit www.westsussex.gov.uk .