Car parks used to be car parks and nothing more, end of story. Today, however, you are much more likely to find them fringed with trees and flowers. We’ve woken up to the potential to make much better use of these spaces in our villages, towns and cities.
I was reminded of this recently when I received an update about the excellent raingarden work in Kinross, which continues with boundless enthusiasm.
You may recall that the first phase of the Kinross Park & Ride Raingarden project was given the prestigious Susdrain UK Community Award in 2022. This was in recognition of a trial of perennial and annual native wildflower plantings as part of a new raingarden in the middle of the Park & Ride car park. It’s been good for nature and a rather pleasant consequence is that the council only needs to cut this area annually instead of 16 times a year. And it looks good visually for those who are passing through, although perennials don’t meet the expectations of the colour blastthat the new annuals created in the first year.
Now, Perth and Kinross Council have approved a further allocation of Nature Restoration Fund money to continue raingardens work in Kinross. Much of the new work will focus on further improving the area around the Park and Ride site, “building on success” you might say.
The green spaces around the Park and Ride are already popular and much appreciated for their nature benefits. The group behind the work are keen to stress that these are biodiversity improvement measures rather than cost-cutting practices. And the work isn’t finished. Moves are afoot to stop herbicide applications and bring an end to the bare soil strips of the car park edges, including the small ‘islands’ in the centre. Instead, the vision is to have pollen and nectar rich vegetation which would be maintained by the Council with an annual cut-and-remove regime where needed. Some occasional weeding of edges may be needed, and advice is being sought for suitable plants to establish there instead of the weeds.
There are two heavily shaded areas on the fringes of the car park, where it looks possible to introduce woodland floor flora more appropriate to the locality and soil. For those who know the area this is in effect the long edge of the car park beneath existing well-established tall trees.
Thought has been given to not only pollinator provision but the aesthetic value of the area for residents whose houses overlook the front of the car park. For that less shaded front edge of the car park therefore, swathes of colour from spring flowering bulbs are also proposed. This will complement the existing Kinross in Bloom containers on the hard surface near the bus stop.
The Park and Ride is the start of the Kinross Raingardens Trail. In parallel with the improvements for pollinators at the Park and Ride, work has been scheduled to enhance the wetlands along the Raingardens Trail on Junction Road. Two constructed wetlands there take overflow drainage from a wildflower-rich set of swales which serve the central length of Junction road, as well as a cluster of commercial properties. Over the years since the wetlands were created, extensive growth of reedmace (Typha latifolia) had suppressed other plants and wildlife. The benefits of last year’s work there should become apparent in spring this year; there will be a buzz of excitement there, hopefully! Early growth looks promising in particular for yellow flag, purple loosestrife, and lesser reedmace amongst others.
A third constructed wetland was created in spring 2023, in an area designated as a flood water space for extremely high flows in the local South Queich river tributary of Loch Leven. Additional work is scheduled there for February 2024, creating another new pond, and seeding with native water margin species. Again, it is anticipated that spring 2024 will be an exciting time to see the emergence of a variety of wild flowers and other native plants, as well as the associated insects and other animals. Already in January ladies smock is growing well, from plugs planted in new scrapes last year, as plugs of purple loosestrife and marsh marigold. This previously neglected area will become a biodiverse treasure on the edge of town, surrounded by a mix of housing, commercial and industrial development and road infrastructure.
It’s this healthy desire to work to enhance the habitats and waters of Kinross-shire and Loch Leven, but simultaneously also strive for further improvement, which has made such a difference. And the improvements are stretching beyond the park and ride and the Raingardens Trail. At the Kinross rugby club, work has begun to create a biodiverse hedgerow swale along the car park edge in spring, tapping into the knowledge gained from earlier swale projects in Kinross. The car park extension and the club-house work have taken rainfall runoff away from the local combined sewer, into the swale system. The project is looking for more green infrastructure projects to help further with removing rainfall input to old sewers which overflow into Loch Leven from Kinross, a National Nature Reserve and Ramsar Wetland.
The group would love to have information signs on site to explain the changes and the benefits. These are likely to stress that the works here help deliver the national pollinator strategy. A sign of the times you might say.
Further reading:
Making wildlife connections at Dance Connect
All images above Copyright (c) C A G Lloyd
transplanted in the Dance Connect wooded mound.
Scottish pollinators 