Published on 17th July 2015

Girl running through wildflwoer urban meadow in Pittville Park

Cheltenham’s urban meadows are beginning to flower and promise to be even bigger and better this year.

Following the huge positive response from residents last summer, when the meadows were increased from 7,500 square metres to 75,000 square metres, large swathes will soon be in bloom for 2015.

Janice Peacey, community ranger for Cheltenham Borough Council, has set residents a challenge to capture the best photographs of the wildflowers.

Photos can be submitted in three categories: wildlife in the wildflowers; families enjoying the displays; capturing the flowers at their location (not just close ups of the flowers but images that show where they are in the borough).

Age ranges for the photograph competition are: budding photographers (under the age of 14); and adults (entrants must be over the age of 14 by the closing date).

Janice says: “We had so many positive comments and photos sent in about our urban meadows project last summer that this year we have increased the size of the meadows again wherever possible, and thought it would be really fun to run a photo competition.

“In Pittville Park near the tennis courts we have increased the area, almost doubling the size of the urban meadow area and also in Swindon Village Park the area has been doubled in size.

“Cheltenham has many green open spaces and by increasing the number and size of flower meadows across the town we help the wildlife; from insects through to birds, as well as providing visually appealing views for the parks users and visitors.

“We’d love residents and visitors to capture the meadows and show us from their perspective what the meadows mean to them.”

Councillor Chris Coleman, cabinet member for green environment says: “It is great to see that the urban meadows project has been embraced so whole-heartedly by local residents. I would like to congratulate the council officers who were involved in the planting - they have done a fantastic job in adding colour to the town. Good luck to all those taking part in our photo competition!”

To find out more and to enter the competition, visit our website (www.cheltenham.gov.uk/wildflowerphotos) fill in the consent form and email the form with your photographs to [email protected] (total email size should not exceed 20MB). The competition runs from today (Friday 17 July) until 5pm on Wednesday 30 September 2015.

Notes:

Competition details:

The competition is restricted to amateur photographers and is not open to professional photographers.

Up to three entries can be submitted per category with a maximum of nine photos in total.

The prizes are a packet of wildflower seeds for sowing in the entrants’ own gardens and a canvas print of the winning photograph for the overall winner.

The winning photographs will be displayed on the council’s Flickr stream.

Urban meadows:

Cheltenham Borough Council embarked on its urban meadow project for the first time last year with the aim of creating a number of colourful meadows across the town, improving the biodiversity of green open space and providing attractive displays throughout the summer and beyond.

Two seed mixes are predominately used; one is a traditional cornfield mix and the other is a special mix developed to commemorate the beginning of WW1 and includes Flanders poppies, Bishops Flower, Red Flax and Cosmos.

The poppies/mix flower until around October or November and the cosmos/mix then come in to their own from mid-July through to the end of October or the first frost. Tom Thumb Endurance, a mix of poppies, cornflowers and French marigolds, can be seen on the road side and flowers from mid-June until mid-September.

The meadows start to fade in the autumn, however last year Pittville cornfield was left in full flower until late autumn. The cosmos and bishops flower provided nectar for the insects and the poppies were left to set seed ready for the following year.