Sunday Times 2
Poppies dying out in Flanders
Their blood red flowers are a haunting reminder of those who made the ultimate fighting for Britain.
But the wild poppy is fast disappearing from the fields of Flanders.
The wild poppy is fast disappearing from the fields of Flanders and the use of power weed killers and nitrogen-rich fertilisers is being blamed (stock image)
Ecologists have warned that the common poppy is being driven out by intensive agriculture. The use of powerful weed killers and nitrogen-rich fertilisers is blamed for the disappearance of 40 per cent of the species found in agricultural fields a century ago.
And they say its plight illustrates the wider change in plant life in northern France and Belgian Flanders.
University of Lille researcher Dr Nina Hautekèete said: ‘Poppies are a symbol of the vegetation in the fields. We still have the poppy but it is much more difficult to find.’
She told a British Ecological Society conference that the lost plants have been replaced by new species, with unknown consequences for the environment.
The symbol of Remembrance since 1921, the poppy thrives in soil that has been disturbed – and bloomed on the fields destroyed by battle in Northern France and Flanders in the World War One.
The sight of the vibrant red flowers growing on the shattered ground at Ypres in 1915 inspired a young Canadian doctor, John McCrae, to write the now famous poem In Flanders Fields.
The poppy was shortly adopted by the British Legion and today, some 45million are produced a year to remember the nation’s war dead. The money raised is used by the Legion to improve the welfare of veterans, serving personnel and their families.
(C) Daily Mail, London