Floral show for walkers

People are being urged to explore Southwell’s grasslands — home to more than 100 species of wild flowers — by taking part in free guided walks organised by the Potwell Dyke Grasslands Action Group.

Members will lead the walks, through grasslands near Potwell Dyke, on Wednesday at 6.30pm and a week tomorrow at 2pm, starting from the Memorial Park carpark, Bishop’s Drive.

The group’s secretary, Mr Tony Morris (65) of Wakeling Close, said it was an opportunity for people to find out more about the grasslands.

He said: “We will show them the wild flowers and what we are doing as a group to encourage wild flowers, such as removing plants like nettles and docks, which would otherwise take over and prevent the flowers from growing.”

He said people were generally most interested in orchids and cowslips, and that a particularly beautiful flower at the moment was the pink and delicate ragged robin.

“We’ve got lots of varieties of orchid including common, spotted and bee orchids,” he said.

Mr Morris said the area was once part of the Bishop of Southwell’s hunting grounds.