Watch Gentleman Jack Changed My Life on BBC iPlayer

Nottingham Catchfly – see it come home on The One Show

Posted 06th July 2021

Zenn and Alma plant their Catchfly

Zenn and Alma Athar-James plant their Catchfly plant at Nottingham Castle

Catchfly flowers in bloom

Our sweet film about the elusive Nottingham Catchfly plant for The One Show on BBC1, airs on 6th July at 7pm. Presenter Riyadh Khalaf joins volunteers from across Nottingham who are part of a community project to restore the county flower of Nottinghamshire, known as the Nottingham Catchfly, to Nottingham Castle. The Catchfly was known to be in the castle grounds from 1696 to the 1930s – but then disappeared. Volunteer manager at the Castle Pippa Vidal Davies thinks an over enthusiastic gardener might have thought of them as weeds!

She sent packs of Catchfly seeds out to over 900 homes, together with compost to grow them in. Riyadh meets some of the volunteers, and joins them as they bring their catchfly flowers back to the castle, where they are now growing after an absence of 100 years.

The Catchfly is so called because it lures in night-flying insects to help with polination. Its petals remain curled during the day to ward off unwanted daytime insects, then open out at night to admit moths and other night-time pollinators.

A few weeks after our volunteers planted their Catchflies, we returned to the castle to see them in bloom.

Nottingham Castle has recently re-opened following a 3-year, £30 million renovation.

Credits:

Assistant Producer: Ruth Bader

Shooting Researcher: Dan Colbourne

Runner / Catchfly shots: Roseanna Escobar-Byrne

Editor: Noel Curry

Production Manager: Jane Parkes

Director / camera: Paul Bader

 

Back to Articles