Wild in the city

Nextdoor Nature has been working with county botanist and LRWT member Russell Parry and his colleague LindsayAnne Heald who have in mind a plant recording project called StreetWild. Together we organised an urban botany walk across Leicester in partnership with Leicester City Council as part of their Walk Leicester Festival.

Russell and Lindsay-Anne have a passion for the diverse plant life that thrives across the urban environment: in the cracks of pavements, on roundabouts, in the verges, or in the brickwork and structures that form our city. They are generous with their knowledge and keen to share the importance that plant diversity plays in the health of people and nature.

Together we are all trying to change the narrative that wild plants (which we really must stop calling ‘weeds’) should be sprayed and grass mown neat and tidy. These are outdated ideas. We need to educate everyone about the beauty and importance of the o en-overlooked, unsung plant heroes that exist in plain sight of us all.

paths you take every day within the city. Russell and Lindsay-Anne pointed out plants of interest, their history and some fun facts. Plants such as shepherd’s purse with its distinctive heart-shaped seed pods, or herb-robert with its leaf tips shaped like tiny Taj Mahal roofs were looked at in detail and awe.

that participants could log their sightings there and then. A more comprehensive record of city plant diversity will help give a broader picture of its essential role.

The walk started on Thurcaston Road and finished at Belgrave Cemetery. It highlighted the common plants you would be likely to see elsewhere on the

Lindsay-Anne is also an artist and created an ID chart for the walk. Paper copies were handed out to each participant, while a QR code took people directly to a website with the same information and links to NatureSpot, iRecord and other national databases so would be likely to see elsewhere on the