Derby Road Station Wildflower Meadow Set for Spring

The wildflower meadow at Derby Road station is now set to bloom once again in 2024.

The East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership, the volunteer station adopters and Ipswich Friends of the Earth spent some time on Saturday 30 September raking the meadow. Greater Anglia had cut the meadow in advance allowing the seeds to drop which were then raked throughout the plot. This was done to ensure a good spread of seeds so they’ll be ready to bloom next Spring.

The meadow was installed by the same group along with Ipswich Borough Rangers in the early Autumn of 2020 on a patch of wasteland at the station as a source of food for bees and butterflies and to help foster the insection population. It is cut each Autumn with the clippings transported to compost bins on-site which were also built by the volunteers using old pallets.

In 2022 the group built a bug hotel, also from old pallets, and placed it inside the meadow to further encourage insects to make the station their home.