Country diary: In our nature-poor country, road verges are reservoirs for recovery | Ed Douglas

Totley Moss, Derbyshire: In among the poo bags and the fast-food wrappers, you'll find flourishing orchids, lady's bedstraw and cranesbillFor the first time this year, the sun had warmth in it. As I cycled through Longshaw, two-tone great tits sang more loudly and roundly. The earth hummed a little, seeming to stir itself. Up ahead on the trail, I noticed something sprouting from the cropped grass beside it, and something similar a few yards further on. What might those be, I wondered. Two small black plastic bags, as it turned out, squatting dumpily beside the path - two more offerings for the poo fairy. My sympathies to estate managers everywhere who deal with the consequences of this inexplicable cult.Back on the road to Sheffield, the sight of those bags prompted my attention to the verge. Compared with many places in Britain, the level of garbage was not awful, but the catalogue grew: fast-food wrappers, plastic bottles, some half-filled with questionable liquids, empty energy drink cans, empty beer cans, empty vapes, shreds of polythene spiked on hawthorns, bits of car bumper and shattered wing mirrors. Continue reading...