One man didn't go to mow - help save the environment and creatures that inhabit it

Top: a Bee Movie - insects like this bumblebee visitor to Heswall Nub News need our help

To help balance its books, Wirral Council has suspended grass cutting in large parts of our parks and open spaces - though areas that are dedicated to leisure activities will continue to be maintained as usual.

Handily, this cutting of costs by not cutting grass coincides with a national month-long initiative that promotes the welfare of bees, butterflies and the wider environment.

The 'No Mow May' campaign, which is led by the conservation charity Plantlife, is encouraging people to lock up their lawn mowers for at least a month to create spaces where pollinators can do their thing.

A pollinator is anything that helps carry pollen from the male part of the flower, the stamen, to the female part of the same or another flower, the stigma. The movement of pollen must occur for the plant to become fertilised.

Some plants are self-pollinating, while others may be fertilised by pollen carried by wind or water, while other flowers are pollinated by insects and animals - such as bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, birds, flies and small mammals, including bats.

Insects and other animals visit flowers in search of food, shelter, nest-building materials, and sometimes even mates.

Some pollinators, including many bee species, intentionally collect pollen. Others, such as many butterflies, birds and bats move pollen accidentally. Pollen sticks on their bodies while they are drinking or feeding on nectar in the flower blooms and is transported unknowingly from flower to flower resulting in pollination.

Pollination is vital. It's estimated that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of the efforts of pollinators - food like fruits, vegetables, and seeds.

The 'No Mow May' campaign wants to help protect and enhance biodiversity and prioritise nature-based solutions to many of the challenges of climate change.

Heswall has already made a pleasing contribution with the launch of the Rotary Club Wildflower Project on the Puddydale.

Now residents are being asked to play their part by not cutting lawns – or at least giving up part of their gardens to nature for the course of the No Mow month.

Let's be honest, saving the planet and species that live on it is a perfect excuse not to mow for people like me who fear electrocution, toe amputation, or both when the mower is removed from the shed and plugged in.

Heswall Nub News will be supporting this initiative with all its might, and suggests it is extended to the end of the summer, or year - or forever.