Meadow flowers along the Lichfield Canal route

Lichfield City Council, working closely with Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust (LHCRT), were awarded £1,000 from the 2016-17 PEBBLE fund towards their project planting meadows along the route of the canal, which is under restoration.

The project removed an existing grass strip next to the canal route and children from Queen’s Croft High School sowed seeds for the meadow. The seeds chosen for the meadows were varied to provide staggered flowering throughout the year and a supply of food for insects and birds throughout the year. 

Pupils from Queen's Croft School watering the seeds.

In the summer of 2019, seed was collected from these existing meadow strips and scattered along the sides of the newly restored canal at Fosseway in Lichfield creating a new meadow. Also some of the seed is being dried to be used elsewhere.

This project supports LHCRT's longer term plan of restoring the canal and was able to draw attention and engagement from local people about the restoration. The project also supported Lichfield City Council’s plan to improve biodiversity across Lichfield, developing meadows where possible to provide diversity and habitat for wildlife. The meadow flowers that were planted were part of a larger project for Lichfield in Bloom and were considered as part of their Gold award in 2017.