WILDLIFE lover Dotti Kilburn is calling on others to join her fight to make Marlborough Common a haven for plants and animals.

Ms Kilburn, who lives in the town and regularly used the common to walk her dog, was distressed to see that the common had been severely mown and now wants to encourage the town council to just mow paths and leave most of it uncut.

She said: “There was not a flower-head left for the birds, not a single natural corridor for a small mammal, nothing for out vanishing bees and butterflies. It is like a green desert.”

The landscape gardener has now started a group called Common Sense to bring together other like minded people to help promote ecology.

She is being backed by friend Judy Hindley and Milly Carmichael from Transition Marlborough.

Marlborough Town Council is already aware of the need to encourage wildlife on the common and discussed the mowing arrangements at a meeting of the amenities and open space committee on November 19.

A report said: “For several years the common has been left uncut to encourage wildlife and flowers with an annual mow in late autumn.

“The autumn mow was timed to have the least impact on wildlife and to help with the dispersal and promoting an even swathe of grass.”

The committee voted to continue with this practice.

Ms Hindley said: “The situation for wildlife is urgent. Scientists tell us we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, including an insect apocalypse that threatens to collapse the very basis of our food chain.

“Much of this is outside our control – how can we help save the rainforests? Yet so much could be done right on our doorstep to restore our own landscape, in all its sheer, health-giving beauty.”

Contact Ms Kilburn on dottikilburn@hotmail.com to join the campaign.