The 30 or so people who attended Jose Ramon Gomez`s talk in Bakio were not disappointed as Jose Ramon transmitted his enthusiasm for wildflowers to everyone there. We were reminded that flowers are a vital part of the trophic system and without them there would be far fewer insects which in turn would lead to a decline in birds and other species. And this is what is happening as report after report registers declines in the number of pollinators.
What can be done to stop this decline? Well, one of the things is to adopt new policies in the area of green space management. However, Jose Ramon admits that it is difficult for municipal authorities to make the simple changes that would make such a difference such as respecting areas of wildflowers without feeling the necessity to systematically cut the grass so often, and with it the flowers whose pollen is so necessary for our pollinators. Perhaps not surprisingly, according to Jose Ramon, it is the unmanaged areas in urban areas which have the highest levels of biodiversity whereas the parks and managed green areas offer very little to wildlife. Adopting new green management policies would be a cheap option but we have to convince people that there is no such thing as weeds. For Jose Ramon there are only good flowers, rebel flowers, beneficial flowers, anything but weeds. Both BBT and Haria Elkartea agree totally with Jose Ramon and we will continue to try and make people aware of the need to appreciate these important elements of an ecosystem. And once again we thank Jose Ramon and his two partners in Herbanova for giving this talk and we hope that he will come back again some day to share his knowledge and enthusiasm with us. In the next edition of Quercus Jose Ramon monthly article concerns the snapdragon flower (Antirrhinum), inspired by the one in the wall in Bakio town-hall car-park which appears on the poster for his talk! I, for one, look forward to reading it and his forthcoming book based on these articles. Finally, a reminder that in May we will be organizing our annual spring walk in Bakio to see what is in flower at this time of year and we hope to see you then.
