The Benefits of Verge Habitats

What is a verge?

A verge is an area of vegetated ground between the road curb and another boundary such as a wall, fence or footpath. Road verges are often considered public property, with maintenance usually being a local authority responsibility, however some verges’ management is take on by nearby property owners help maintain their respective verge areas.

Many roadside verges have become smaller or have been removed altogether due to road widening and placing footpaths next to roads. Where verges are left to grow wild they often support now uncommon hay meadow and arable weed species important for invertebrates.

The benefits of verge habitats

Roadside verges play a crucial role for nature’s recovery due to their ecological value and potential for aiding the reversal of biodiversity loss. These spaces, which span approximately 500,000 km—an area slightly larger than the Lake District National Park—serve as carbon storage hubs, habitats for over 700 wildflower species (nearly 45% of the UK's flora), and critical corridors that connect isolated wildlife habitats, enabling species movement and genetic mixing.

As fringe habitats, i.e. remnants of previous land use, verges now act as last-resort refuges for many of our meadow-reliant species.

Recognized by ‘Butterfly Conservation’ as “a fundamental resource for maintaining and rebuilding biodiversity,” road verges are not only a sanctuary for plants like the rare lizard orchid, but are also integral to supporting pollinators, butterflies, and broader ecosystems. Through better management, these spaces can play a transformative role in ecological restoration.

There are also other benefits to verges - for 23 million commuters, road verges can be their only daily contact with nature, watching kestrels and kites hover over them and insects forage amongst the vegetation. Their large collective area across the country absorbs and stores carbon, especially when well-managed, and help us combat the developing climate emergency. They also help to absorb surface water runoff during heavy rainfall events, reducing the risk of flash flooding.