A great morning out in the sun! Took a slightly diffferent route - a longer route taking in the park Giardino Pubblico Vittime di Lavoro and then doubled back towards Corso Francia and the rough verge outside the Gardenia Blu shopping mall.
There the grass is long with common urban pioneers - mallow (Malva sylvestris) , yarrow, (Achillea millefolium) alfafa I think, but the main point is that the plants have been allowed to grow - some reaching a metre in height, including, in a drainage channel from the Tangenziale, a monstrous rape plant two metres high (I think.... Brassica napa) It is gloriously scruffy and full of life: wall lizards on the bare concrete and in and out of the drains and other goodies for the project: 2 spot ladybird (........ bipunctata) a cranefly (Tipulidae) and many small flies. An expert with a good camera could take some wonderful photographs there. This kind of waste ground, left over from human use of the land is now often referred to as incidental or accidental countryside by British ecologists. It is important because as the real countryside is trashed by farmers it is increasingly there that you go to see wildlife. It is also there that town dwellers can have their first contacts with wild plants insects and even mammals!
The little patch I have described links up with the embankments of the ring road, which, if cut much less often could be a superb home for wildlife. I imagine you have been enjoying the parks and condominium gardens which have in many cases remained uncut because of the pandemic. I have spoken to our gardener and he has left a few uncut squares of bugle (ajuga reptans) and ox-eye daisy for a while. These tiny reguges are good for honey bees and common carder bees (pascuorum if I am not mistaken - don't bet on it!!) I hope to eventually ask the residents here to allow him to be a little more ambitious but they will be - as you say here "ossa dure". They are terrified of what they consider to be disorder. One solution would be to ensure the edges of the uncut areas are clean and neat to give the message that they are intended to be "wild" as part of a principled stance in defence of nature and not the result of pure neglect..
I feel that through this project we can absorb energy and strength and help to spread the message to others. It is imperative that the young are given the chance to learn a little about their immediate environment and to love its colour, its texture and its vitality. We can help that process. I am hoping when the isolation ends to offer quick trips around the gardens for kids and adults alike here. Let me know what you think of this idea and other ways we can combat apathy and distance from nature!!
Final word: I went out too late for most of the resident birds but heard a hoopoe (having seen a bird a few days ago) and two greater spotted woodpeckers, one of which I saw. I think we will have few surprises this spring as we observe our local patches more closely!
