THE owners of Broadrake, a former farm at the foot of Whernside, near Chapel-le-dale, have been busy working on a wildflower propagation video during the coronavirus lockdown as part of an online tutorial for the conservation project, Stories in Stone, writes Imogen Campion.

In collaboration with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, Rachel Benson, 60, wildlife farmer and owner of Broadrake, now developed as a bunkbarn and craft workshops, has developed an educational video, which went live at the end of May.

The video shows anyone interested in growing wildflowers how to prepare the ground for sowing seeds and how to plant them successfully.

Rachel hopes that the initiative will promote biodiversity and pollination by restoring species-poor grassland into a thriving meadow, like she and her partner, Mike, have created at their farm.

She has planted many species of flowers such as the cuckoo flower, which is the primary food source for the Orange-tip butterfly, and the pignut which is an important food source for the chimney sweeper moth. Others include the red campion, the wood cranesbill and the yellow rattle.

“Planting trees and creating an upland hay meadow at Broadrake will improve the biodiversity with more flowers to support our important pollinators, bumblebees, insects and moths, which in turn become part of the food chain to also improve bird life here,” she said.

Rachel carried out the filming over the last few weeks, during lockdown, ahead of the flowering period of many species and while there were no visitors to the bunkbarn, or to the popular visitor area of Whernside, the Yorkshire Three Peaks and Ribblehead.

She initially started the project in August, 2012, and eight years on, is very pleased with the results.

“I’ve learnt a lot about the different wildflower species and I’d like to share wildflower seeds and plug plants that have been propagated with local provenance seed from Broadrake, to help and encourage others who are starting out on their wildlife patches,” she said.

The hope is that once the flowering season is upon us, the meadow will steadily begin to grow, the plants will self-seed and therefore encourage and attract different species of butterflies and insects at Broadrake.

She had hoped to offer two workshops on propagation methods as can be seen in the video. The first one was due to be delivered in Spring 2020 but unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus, but the second workshop will hopefully go ahead as planned this September.

Stories in Stone is a programme of conservation and community projects based in the Ingleborough area. Rachel and Mike look forward to opening the meadow to the public, once coronavirus restrictions are lifted

Wildflower Propagation with Rachel Benson can be seen on YouTube. To find out more about Broadrake, visit: broadrake.co.uk/