Signage featuring fun and friendly wildlife characters will soon be seen on Dorset’s verges.
The signage will feature a range of characters including bumble bee, mouse, grass snake, hedgehog and grasshopper. The messages on the signs will explain how we are managing that particular verge and thank people for taking their rubbish home.
The Dorset Council’s #LoveYourVerge campaign is a countywide collaboration between the council’s Coast and Greenspace Service and Litter Free Dorset. The campaign aims to encourage residents and visitors of Dorset to value verges and open spaces and raise awareness of how open spaces are individually managed due to the specific local habitat, and their contribution towards tackling the Climate and Ecological Emergency
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council Portfolio Holder Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
“Verges are important areas for our wildlife, and we want to continue and expand the work we’ve been doing to create ideal habitats for a wide variety of creatures.
“We want residents and visitors to love our verges, appreciate how important they are, understand what we are doing and take their rubbish home, so that we can keep our roads in Dorset free from litter. Keeping animal residents safe for the enjoyment of our children and future generations.
“We will, however, ensure sightlines on junctions are kept clear for safety reasons.”
Visit the Love your verge campaign
This campaign forms part of the work to mitigate the declared Climate and Ecological Emergency to protect and enhance Dorset’s natural environment and wildlife biodiversity.
This campaign forms part of the work to mitigate the declared Climate and Ecological Emergency to protect and enhance Dorset’s natural environment and wildlife biodiversity.
Our Dorset verges are our presentation to the people of Dorset and our visitors, keeping them clear and clean free from litter is so important. This tells the world we care about our countryside in Dorset.
Majestic wildflowers and Grasses are like an extension to our Garden. This in turn will encourage wild life, butterflies insects and birds.
This is an excellent initiative. I have already seen the sign boards with cute little animals they certainly will speak to children,and they could be champions of this campaign to their parents. The litter around the verges of Corfe Mullen and Wimborne is disappointing and disgusting. A lot is fast food wrappers and a tax should be applied to the same to pay for cleaning the mess. How long will it take to get through to people to take their rubbish home. They don’t want it so throw it if the car window and it becomes someone else’s problem. I wish success with the initiative.
BUT our verges are spoilt by litter. It’s appalling on the road from Milborne St Andrew to Dorchester and then on to Weymouth. When is something going to be done about it?
What can be done to keep our main road verges clear of litter? The A31 going past Wimborne and into Ringwood is heartbreakingly littered. I am part of the litter picking fraternity in Wimborne but what can we do to keep these main roads clear?
Yes and also carelessly discarding litter is a danger to wildlife. I myself was involved with others in rescuing a poor hedgehog that had become entangled and constricted by plastic can holders. Plus they make nests with plastic rubbish we carelessly dump. These poor creatures face enough dangers already. Our Blandford Bypass was tidied by volunteers a few weeks ago and already it is starting to look as bad as it did before. The majority who live in Dorset thankfully wish it to look nice for us who live here as well as visitors. I have requested one of these signs to go up on our Bypass. Brilliant idea and hopefully will be noticed.
Encouraging bees and butterflies on road verges is well-intentioned but ultimately counter-productive. When disturbed bumble bees make an orientation flight (about a 5 metre diameter circle) which means they get disturbed by the first car and splattered by the second. Similarly butterflies fly rather randomly and will equally get swatted. Putting flowers next to busy roads is like building a children’s playground next to the railway.
PS: not seen any wildflowers on the verges – they’re all garden annuals.
I’m dubious. Will a cartoon hedgehog appeal to the half-wits who eat their McD etc take-aways as they drive, then chuck the boxes out of the car window? How about the yob who threw a beer bottle last night over the hedge into our paddock? It wasn’t “on the verge”! How long before the signs get tatty and start to add to the litter?
We applaud the “Love your Verges” initiative but anyone driving along the A31 from the ‘Palmersford Roundabout’ (Sainsbury’s Ferndown) to ‘Canford Bottom Roundabout’ would think it was a local rubbish tip. It’s a disgrace to the county and the council.
A good place to start a clear up and aggressively monitor drivers who fly tip at any level.
Hi Martyn – our waste services teams are out clearing verges across the county. As you can imagine it is a huge job. Fiona
Hi Fiona, yes it is a huge countywide job. Maybe a ‘rubbish tax’ should be levied to the cost of takeaway convenience food predominantly like McD, KFC and Burger K.
Notices to customers will explain the extra tax for takeaways is to facilitate the cost of roadside cleanup.
Thank you for taking the time to respond. M.
Seeing the amount of litter on the A31, isn’t it time to have CCTV at intervals to detect and prosecute offenders. Also, put a surcharge on “take away” operators to help pay for litter collection. The amount of MacDonalds litter around their outlets is widespr4ead.
Cllr Ray Bryan
Cut the crap of “Love your verge with these friendly faces”.
Clear the verges of regularly mounting waste rubbish.
Mike – our waste services are out clearing our verges, but we need to educate people the damage their rubbish has. Also the love your verge campaign is not just about rubbish – it’s also about creating habitats for native wildlife and plant life. Fiona
I have gained permission to plug plant a couple of green verges near me … where can i get hold of these signs to let people know whats happening?
Hi Sheri – can you email sophie.colley@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk with details. Thanks Fiona
We also need to have a data base of all the flora that grow in our verges; there was a case last year where rare orchids grow were mowed down inadvertently by a DC Operative!. Ray Bryan was keen on a Data base, for this to happen, so please “green space” and AONB please support this before it’s too late this Spring. I am willing to take part in this in Wareham Ward area, which includes Arne and Wareham St Martin Parishes too. Please get in touch. Thank you
Can we please have some of your signs for Pimeperne Please!
The Hedgehog one in particular?
I appreciate a lot of litter is domestic ie takeaway boxes, bottles etc, however, there is a huge amount of (what I assume) is farm waste or industrial waste consisting of large pieces and quantities of plastic wrap. I realise that this has probably blown from the fields onto the verges or off lorries, but whoever this litter belongs to they need to be made aware, collectively, that they also are contributing to the litter problem. My heart sinks at the amount of litter collecting on our verges, I hope the campaign is successful, but I somehow doubt it – those who litter just don’t care sadly.