Our wild daffodils are central to our local heritage and a clear indicator of our rich ancient woodland soils. 100 years ago the whole area would have been carpeted in gold in early spring.
Though we are blessed to still have magical spring displays of wild daffodils here in the Golden Triangle, the coverage of daffs these days is no longer the wall-to-wall carpet of gold we once enjoyed. Here and all over the world, biodiversity is in decline and our daffodils have not escaped unscathed.
In Dymock: to the casual glance a picture perfect English village, people still remember the glory days of the local Daffodils, when thousands of people came to the area by train from as far afield as London and Birmingham to pick the daffodils and take home to sell. So when the parish council set up a Biodiversity working group in spring 2024 protecting the existing population of daffodils and encouraging their habitat restoration seemed like a good place to start.
Our wild daffodils are slow to develop and spread. From seed to flowering bulb will take a daffodil 5 years. Seeds are not spread by wind or birds. When a wild daffodil has flowered, it will lay down its head, at the end of its short, 12 inch stem, and drop its seeds right there – 20-25 of them – where they will form the next clump of daffodils. So it’s fair to say that left to their own devices wild daffodils will spread just a foot every 5 years.
If managed wrongly though, that spread can quickly be halted. With most surviving populations on verges and under hedgerows, the first port of call for the biodiversity group was educating the council’s grass cutting contractors in the right way to manage wildflower verges. The work programme is now set so there is no mowing till July or August, when the seeds have set.
Then weeding out invaders was the next step. Cultivated daffodils have a tendency to “escape” from gardens. They can out-compete natives for ideal growing spots and there is also a danger of hybridisation – compromising the integrity of our native species.
Becky Rose, chair of the biodiversity Group told us “in some parts of the village centre the council had planted cultivated daffodils in the past, just wanting to brighten the place up and not realising the ecological implications. We spent quite a bit of time rooting these out, though there is still work to do.”
Then came replenishing the existing population and encouraging spread – but where to start? With miles of verges and national Daffodil Way footpaths fanning out across the parish the choices seemed daunting.
The group decided to start at the village centre. Beauchamp bank close to the pub had become overgrown and tatty – not the best welcome to the village. So the group made this the focus for their first efforts.
After clearing scrub growth they introduced finer meadow grasses, to give the daffodils and other wild flowers a better chance. Around 250 native daffodil bulbs were lifted and kept safe for the year by “Daffodil Guardians”, members of Dymock gardening club and local natural history and walking enthusiasts. The daffodil guardians are also bringing on wild daffodil seedlings for planting out in later years – forward planning at its best.
“There are only about 6 of us in the biodiversity group,” Becky told us “ but when there is work to be done, everyone turns out, Dymock’s that sort of place.“ A team turned up to clear the bank in the spring, then again in November when it came to bulb planting time. Everyone kept going with hot drinks and bacon rolls supplied by the Beauchamp Arms.
The saved bulbs from the bank were re-planted, along with more donated by a local resident and other sponsored donations.
And then we wait . . .
Becky and the team are hopeful that visitors may see early results of their hard work on Beachamp Bank this year, and in future years the hope is that the daffodils will be joined by other wildflowers to create a succession of food for pollinators through the spring and create a floral focal point for the village.
And plans for the future? “The nationally recognised Poets Path and Daffodil Way both pass through the parish and we would like to see more native wildflowers along those routes.” Becky told us “and Vell Mill Daffodil Meadow (Managed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust) was planted up as an orchard in 2011. Traditional orchards support so much biodiversity: it would be great to be able to do much more of this in the parish.”
