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Road Verges: Nature Hidden in Plain Sight

Join this member talk to find out how these pockets of nature along the edge of our roads can help in the fight for nature recovery.

Date
17 Apr 2025
Time
19:00 – 20:00
Free
Become a member to book
Purple flowers bloom in a road verge. The bright flowers, along with long grasses are in the foreground, while in the background a road can be seen with a blue car driving along it.
The thin green lines of road verges can be the last stand for many treasured wild plants and fungi. But how can these pockets of nature along the edge of our roads help in the fight for nature recovery?
Road Verge Advisor, Mark Schofield, shares Plantlife’s ambition for these unassuming spaces and unearths the poetic inspiration they provide to artists Edward Chell and Nessie Ramm.
*If you are a member you should have already received your personal email invitation directly from our team (contact us if you haven’t!). New members will receive a link in your welcome email.

Speakers

Mark Schofield

Mark Schofield, Road Verges Advisor

Mark Schofield joined Plantlife in 2022 as Road Verge and Green Space Advisor. Previously he worked for the Wildlife Trusts for 13 years managing projects that surveyed road verges and created wilder public green spaces throughout Lincolnshire. Mark’s focus now is on engaging Plantlife more in urban green spaces. He has supported the #NoMowMay campaign in the media and behind the scenes.

Edward Chell, Reader in Fine Art at University for the Creative Arts

Edward Chell is Reader in Fine Art at University for the Creative Arts and has shown his work widely, most recently at Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London.
Chell was awarded an AHRC Research Fellowship for his Soft Estate project that explored landscapes that have both been made accessible and also transformed by car culture. His work foregrounds conflicting and contested storylines within the spatial environment.

Nessie Ramm, Contemporary Landscape Artist

Nessie Ramm is a contemporary landscape artist who paints the road verges of Britain onto metal road signs. In 2025 she is raising awareness of road verges, habitats which are vital refuges for England’s bucolic wild flowers and fungi, by making paintings in situ along the A21 in Kent and Sussex. Nessie is supported by a fellowship grant from the Society of Botanical Artists and is Plantlife’s 2025/26 Creative Friend.