In this lockdown period many people started noticing wildlife in their surroundings they usually ignored, will this time bring the new normal for city wildlife?

It was a sunny day in London. Roads were empty and quiet, no rush of people; the birds’ chirping was audible as there was no traffic—hardly one or two people walking on the road. Sophie was sitting on the pavement and was engrossed in writing something besides a plant with the white chalk. She made a small arrow, wrote something and moved little ahead to write again.

As lockdown was declared, councils could not cut or spray the pavement plants with glyphosate to keep it tidy. As a result, small plants grew from the cracks and sides of the pavement. Sophie took advantage of this situation to make people aware of the usually ignored plants present at their feet.

Sophie said, “If you know what something is called, then you are more likely to conserve it and not just dismiss it.” Sophie Leguil is a French botanist and campaigner who lives in London. “Things have had to change or forced to change this year, people have realised cities, and roadside could look different and prettier, so why aren’t we doing it?” she said.

She has helped Tela Botanica to spread the Sauvages de ma rue (“wild things of my street”) campaign in France, she brought the idea to London and started working on it. Writing names or any graffiti on the pavement and highway without permission is illegal in London, but she has permission to do so on Hackney’s highways.

She has started a campaign named ‘More than weeds’ through which she writes English names of the plants growing on the pavement in London. She believes it helps people connect with the flora present in their footsteps which plays an essential role in maintaining biodiversity in an urban area.

Sophie said that many people living in the cities don’t have a backyard or garden like the countryside. At some places, pavement plants are the only plants people can see; it is one way to connect people with nature. She said, “There are different roles of these (pavement) plants, they are very less studied because we see them as weeds.”

According to one research done by the pollinator researchers provided by Guardian, many ‘weeds’ are rich with nectar and pollen provided by their flowers compared to the garden plants. That plants include thistles, creeping buttercup, poppies, rosebay willowherb, viper’s bugloss.

Sophie said the pavement plants act as a stop for the pollinators and also help in feeding the local birds. She said, “some plants surprisingly can absorb the pollution. Plants like ‘plantain’ with large leaves are actually good at absorbing roadside pollution.” She further stated that they also help absorb water, so when a lot of water comes on concrete which causes flooding, can be prevented with the help of these plants.

According to her, in cities where you don’t have a lot of nature, wildflowers along the road are vital as it can allow insects to go from one place to another and move around the city. Sophie feels that if we want to protect biodiversity, it is necessary to educate people because often citizens don’t know the contribution of these plants.

As per the State of Nature reports, because of an increasing development wildflower species went on decreasing. 4% of urban wildflower species are listed in the national red list assessment. As a result of this, a 43% reduction of the invertebrates’ population took place as they were dependent only on the habitats in the urban area.

Sophie said, “I assumed people know; actually, a lot of people don’t know about the reality of what is happening. They don’t realise plants are really useful to insects and if you kill them (plants), you will get rid of the insects and birds as the birds need insects to feed.”

The new approach of educating people got a positive response. People took social media’s support to gain more information about the flora, and now they can recognise that plant because of Sophie’s initiative. Now that they know the plant’s role, people want to change how the councils are managing things, which is the exact result Sophie was expecting from this campaign.