We had a good session on Sunday cutting back the shrub overgrowth on the Brighton Greenway. As the shrubs had grown outwards, so people had started moving off the path, and so a new pathway was taking shape. With the buddleia and cornus now under control, the pathway feels much easier to walk. Sadly, the graffiti is back on the arches.

We were around ten people, including a couple of campers from the camp set up by homeless people on the Greenway. They’ve pitched their tents in a tightly defined area between the fossil seats. Their help on Sunday, but also clearing litter during the week, has been much appreciated.

Wild ginger and cow parsley on New England Road bank

As the Brighton Greenway was planned to be a wildlife corridor as well as a human amenity, it was lovely to see the native wild flowers coming through. The bank by the steps up to the Greenway from New England Road is now covered with wild ginger (probably Asarum europeaum) which grows so well in shady areas, together with pungent cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). After the bridge there are clumps of nettles, red campion (silene dioca) and ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata). And slightly further on, there are drifts of cowslips (primula veris). It’s some time since I’ve seen this plant in an urban environment; it declined seriously in the 1970s and 1980s but has since made a comeback.

Cow slips, ivy and galium

Further up the Greenway, the Council have spread rough soil and ‘wildflower’ seed mix. The ‘wildflower’ border has been spectacular in previous years but quite a few of the flowers  aren’t really native; for example, the pink Cosmos is originally from Mexico. The ox-eye daisies, poppies and blue chicory are. The challenge of ‘wildflower’ borders is always getting the right balance: typically, one species will overpower others after the first spectacular year. We’ll see what this year brings.

Red campion and more wild ginger

Along with others, we’ve formed Friends of Brighton Greenway as a group to help maintain and develop the Greenway.

Come along to our Inaugural AGM where there will be an opportunity to talk about some future plans: MONDAY 18 May, 7.30pm, Clarendon Centre, CCK, 47 New England Street.