Green-fingered volunteers got their spades out on Friday (October 30) to create a new wildflower meadow at Okehampton Business Centre as part of a West Devon Borough Council plan to improve biodiversity and tackle climate change.

Volunteers spent the day laying the foundations for the meadow on a bare strip of land between two buildings, beginning by preparing the soil to ensure ideal growing conditions for the new plants.

This involved uprooting existing plants and grass, removing buried boulders and scarifying the soil (breaking up the top layer). Volunteers were then able to scatter wildflower seeds and plant three new trees on the site.

Flowering plug plants and seeds from 38 different species were planted, including well-known wildflowers such as poppies, forget-me-nots, cowslips, ox-eye daisies, marigolds and pansies.

However, one flowering plant will be crucial in ensuring the project is as successful as possible. Yellow rattle, named after the colour of its flowers and the noise its seed pods make when shaken, is a semi-parasitic plant that helps prevent more dominant grasses from taking over the site, allowing more wildflowers to establish.

Fleur Ammerlaan from Park Life, the non-profit environmental organisation leading the project, said: “Wildflower meadows take a while to actually establish, and a crucial part of it is patience. Don’t expect a beautiful meadow with poppies and cornflowers straight away. It's something that takes time and management and care. There'll be flowers popping up next year for sure, but it’s a gradual process.”

Park Life is a Devon-based non-profit organisation which helps communities improve their local environment and will continue to support the Okehampton community in maintaining the meadow, including the first cut and raking.

The event was part of a series of sessions aimed at rewilding land owned by the borough council to improve biodiversity across West Devon, with the hope that it will encourage parish and town councils to consider rewilding some of their own land. Sites in Tavistock and Sticklepath have already benefited from similar work.

Borough councillor for Okehampton George Dexter said: “There's this intimate connection between biodiversity and what this is going to be, as well as climate change and the quality of people's lives. We've also got to make sure we maintain it. It's not a one-off – you go and plant stuff and then walk away.”