Perched on the Northumberland coastline, Alnmouth Golf Club offers members a challenging mix of seaside and parkland play in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty.
Head Greenkeeper Jim Storey has spent the last 27 years finessing that natural beauty, employing maintenance that supports both the long-term course management and local wildlife.
For the last decade this work has included establishing wildflower areas and, more recently with the help of DLF Seeds, he says these have delivered both visual impact and ecological value.
“Creating habitats and supporting wildlife has been one of our major objectives for the last 10 years” says Jim, who heads up a greenkeeping team of seven. “Using our collective knowledge and experience, the team and I have thinned out the roughs and created new spaces to support insects, pollinators, small mammals and birds. Our wildflower areas have become a really important part of that.”
Jim has worked with various mixtures from DLF’s Pro Flora and Colour Boost ranges to establish five wildflower areas, most recently adding a burst of colour and broad variety of flowering species with the Carnival mix. “We’ve selected spaces where we can compliment the surrounding landscape and really add to the experience for the golfers, especially on a nice sunny day!”
Another of the recent projects sits close to the first tee, where wildflowers have been established among areas of fine fescue and yellow rattle – creating a vibrant focal point adjacent to newly planted fruit trees. “We’ve now got pollinators working between the flowers and the fruit trees which is exactly what we hoped to achieve” he adds.
It’s not just pollinators enjoying the new wildflower areas. Jim continues, “We’ve definitely seen an increased in the number and variety of animals we’re seeing since the introduction of the wildflower. We’ve got all sorts of insect, voles and field mice which means, in turn, we’re also seeing barn owls. It’s been really fantastic to see.”
“We’ve also enjoyed speaking with agronomists and fellow greenkeepers about the project, learning about different flowers and getting ideas together to discuss with our DLF Regional Technical Manager Ben Morgan.” He concludes, “Every year we’ll look to add another area if we see an opportunity, which is only going to help us get richer in biodiversity with every passing season.”
