News and press

Latest news

• New project to help Scotland’s housebound kids

  29 April 2013
  Plantlife survey reveals a staggering number of children in Scotland never play outside

• New Award for plant conservation

  02 April 2013
  Thanks to a generous donation from its former Chairman Roger Crofts, Plantlife is launching a new award.

• Plants from our industrial past

  26 March 2013
  Plantlife reveal how abandoned mines play a vital role for some of Wales most weird and wonderful plants

• Flower Power needed!

  20 March 2013
  Spring into action and help Plantlife count the UK’s wildflowers.

• Our vanishing flora – next steps: Coronation Meadows

  12 March 2013
  

• Unloved and desperate for a date

  14 February 2013
  This Valentine’s day, Plantlife plays matchmaker for Scotland’s threatened plants and fungi who need some parliamentary affection.

• Plantlife expert turns TV presenter

  17 January 2013
  Plantlife’s Trevor Dines is one of the new faces of “Wild Things”, a Channel 4 series starting Monday 21 January.

• Government failing in ambition to be ‘greenest ever’

  27 November 2012
  

• Help us Save our Magnificent Meadows

  07 November 2012
  Have your say and help us save the UK’s last meadows.

• Sewing the seed

  06 October 2012
  Ambitious charity project to create a giant Bayeux tapestry of Britain’s wildflowers

• Prisoners protect Portland’s plants

  20 September 2012
  Young offenders join Plantlife conservation team to help destroy cotoneaster that’s causing havoc for wildlife and wild plants

• Britain’s vanishing flowers

  13 September 2012
  Plantlife report reveals the shocking number of wildflowers that have become extinct in Britain during the sixty year Reign of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

• Scotland’s forgotten farmland flowers

  22 August 2012
  Plantlife calls on farmers to help stop some of Scotland’s most threatened wild flowers from disappearing from the countryside.

• Forgotten farmland flowers

  01 August 2012
  Plantlife calls on farmers to help some of England’s most threatened wild flowers that are disappearing from the countryside.

• Wales’ forgotten farmland flowers

  31 July 2012
  Plantlife calls on farmers to help some of Wales most threatened wild flowers that are disappearing from the countryside.

• Help for housebound kids

  24 July 2012
  Plantlife survey reveals a staggering number of children in Merseyside never play outside.

• Public set to cast their vote on countryside heroes

  20 July 2012
  From today members of the public are being asked to choose the UK’s most wildlife-friendly farmer.

• Flowers on the edge

  08 June 2012
  Plantlife launches UK campaign to stop the devastating loss of wildflowers on our road verges

• Forestry Recommissioned?

  21 May 2012
  Urgent call to bring Wales’ neglected woodlands back to life

• When you can’t see the wood for the trees

  05 April 2012
  Battle to save two of Wales most precious wildflowers that are disappearing into the darkness of our woodland.

• Battle to save Britain’s “Magnificent Meadows”

  04 April 2012
  Plantlife receives funding from the Heritage Lottery fund allowing them to transform the fortunes of our wildflower meadows and grasslands that have rapidly declined.

• Give it some wellie!

  31 March 2012
  One of Wales most threatened plants is thriving again thanks to walkers’ muddy wellies!

• Lost lichens and missing mosses

  15 March 2012
  Urgent action needed after reports declare nearly 50 of Wales' smallest wild plants extinct.

• New fungal disease discovered in threatened juniper

  14 February 2012
  Plantlife is extremely concerned as a serious fungal infection is found in juniper in County Durham.

• Great discovery in a Great Welsh Wood

  26 January 2012
  Welsh botanists beaming after making an incredibly rare discovery

• Kiss goodbye to mistletoe?

  22 December 2011
  Is the Christmas Kissing Plant under threat or thriving?

• Lost in the woods

  19 December 2011
  Urgent call to bring Scotland’s overgrown and neglected woodlands back to life

• Government mugging of England’s wildlife protection

  30 November 2011
  Plantlife dismayed by government announcement

• Forestry Recommissioned

  26 November 2011
  Quality not quantity is the key for England’s woodlands, says new Plantlife report

• Saving the gin berry from extinction in England

  18 November 2011
  Plantlife raises a toast as juniper regenerates for first time

• Nature check

  14 October 2011
  Plantlife and other leading environment groups warn Government over failing nature record

• England’s wildlife in the global decade of biodiversity

  13 September 2011
  Biodiversity 2020, a new strategy for England’s wildlife and environmental resources, was published last month and is of critical importance for our natural environment.

• Speak up for wild plants!

  07 September 2011
  Concerned about the Government's new planning reforms? Please show your support for our wild plants and the wildlife they support by expressing your concerns about the lack of protection for their habitats.

• Nature’s tapestry

  06 September 2011
  Update to Plantlife's 'Green & unpleasant land' now available

• Plantlife’s response to the Independent Panel on Forestry

  25 August 2011
  Plantlife has officially responded to the Independent Forestry Panel's ‘Call for Views’ on the future of England's forests and woodlands.

• Shifting sands

  24 August 2011
  Britain’s rare coastal flora vanishing as our dunes stop moving.

• Conservation groups call for urgent recovery plan for English wildlife

  19 August 2011
  Government plans announced today will not do enough to save wildlife species threatened with extinction, conservationists have warned.

• From brink of extinction, return of rare wild flower to Gloucestershire

  15 August 2011
  Plantlife and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust bring meadow clary back to Box Farm Meadows.

• Calling all landowners of Caledonian pinewoods!

  02 August 2011
  New Plantlife guide explains the conditions that rare flowers need to survive in this Scottish environment.

• Highest orchid count for 25 years at Plantlife reserve

  21 July 2011
  The highest number of greater butterfly-orchids for 25 years has been counted at Plantlife’s Caeau Tan y Bwlch reserve, near Caernarfon, with a total of just under 3,500 orchids - well over double the figure for 2010.

• Lovely ragwort under fire again

  18 July 2011
  Plantlife and partners write letter to press in defence of this misunderstood plant

• End of four-year project brings welcome return of rare wildlife to Hampshire heathland

  12 July 2011
  Plantlife celebrates the completion of a four-year partnership project at Bramshill, Hampshire.

• Ranscombe Farm Reserve celebration is a hit with visitors

  21 June 2011
  More than 200 people visited Ranscombe Farm Reserve near Cuxton over the weekend (18th / 19th June) to enjoy guided walks, an open afternoon with activities for families and the official launch of a new community project.

• ‘Securing the value of nature’ - a sustainable investment or a raid on nature’s bank?

  08 June 2011
  Our reaction to the Government’s White Paper on the future of the natural environment ‘The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature’.

• Plantlife comments on the National Ecosystem Assessment report

  02 June 2011
  Nature is ‘worth billions’ to UK economy – all underpinned by plants and fungi

• New international report to secure natural riches of North Africa and the Middle East

  01 June 2011
  An international conservation project has brought together botanists and scientists from Middle East and North Africa - Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia.

• Fruitful relationship for Belvoir and Plantlife

  19 May 2011
  Belvoir Fruit Farms will be donating 50p to Plantlife’s work for every person who signs up to their email newsletter.

• Easter flower lost from 85% of sites

  20 April 2011
  A new report reveals a decline in the purple Pasqueflower

• Jurassic Park!

  19 April 2011
  Threatened prehistoric plant thriving on Aldershot and Crookham Commons

• Scottish election candidates asked to sign on the dotted line for wildlife conservation

  11 April 2011
  Voters will be able to check instantly if their candidates for the forthcoming election care about the wildlife and the natural environment of Scotland after the launch of a new initiative by a broad coalition of conservation bodies today.

• Theft of juniper leaves bitter taste for Plantlife and the National Trust

  22 March 2011
  A thief has left a conservation project in jeopardy after taking a dozen newly-planted juniper bushes from Harting Down nature reserve near Chichester in West Sussex.

• Here today - here tomorrow?

  28 February 2011
  Plantlife calls for action on next generation of plant invaders

• For peat’s sake

  21 February 2011
  Conservationists and business call for garden peat levy

• Plantlife welcomes Government change of heart on forest sell-off

  18 February 2011
  Our response to the Environment Secretary's announcement.

• Public Forest Estate is a ‘critical resource’

  16 February 2011
  PFE ‘critical resource’ says Plantlife statement on the future of the English Public Forest Estate

• Last gasp for the rare Rapunzel flower

  05 January 2011
  Survey reveals fewer sites and fewer flowers than expected

• A break for Breckland wild flowers

  30 November 2010
  New £200,000 conservation project launched by Plantlife to save the unique threatened wild flowers of Breckland

• Speaking up for wild plants for 21 years

  24 November 2010
  Plantlife comes of age

• Plantlife and partners speak up on government disposal plans

  12 November 2010
  Following government plans that may involve public land disposals, Plantlife works with partners to secure the right results for wildlife.

• The good, the bad and the ugly

  08 November 2010
  How have wild flowers fared in Wales in 2010?

• Plantlife gives a cautious welcome to new Global Strategy for Plants

  01 November 2010
  Plantlife welcomes the updated Global Strategy but calls for more practical implementation and action to halt plant diversity losses.

• Help us send an important message to Government

  07 September 2010
  

• Green up your garden and keep invaders out advise Plantlife & the RHS

  06 August 2010
  A new booklet by Plantlife and the Royal Horticultural Society aims to help gardeners avoid problem plants.

• Wildflowers of Brockles Field saved as Ranscombe Farm Reserve wins the Lottery

  27 July 2010
  Plantlife has saved a wildflower-rich meadow in Kent from possible destruction thanks to a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and with additional funding from Medway Council.

• Ragwort – friend or foe?

  12 July 2010
  A unique guidance leaflet on Common Ragwort - a cheerful yellow flower found on waysides and fields - has been published by Plantlife, The British Horse Society (BHS) and Butterfly Conservation.

• Former Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth is new Chairman of Plantlife

  21 June 2010
  Plantlife appoints former MP and Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth as its new Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

• Endangered orchids cut down by council contractors at Mascoombe Bottom for the third year running

  09 June 2010
  Plantlife and wildlife enthusiasts in Hampshire react with anger after a site for rare orchids was prematurely mown for the third year running, leaving the orchids now under threat of extinction at this site.

• Europe’s wild places for plants under threat

  19 May 2010
  A new report reveals that one in four internationally important sites for wild plants and threatened habitats across 14 European countries has no legal protection.

• Juniper – down the hatch?

  28 April 2010
  Plantlife launches a new project and survey to halt the decline of the wild plant that gave gin its name and distinctive flavour.

• Ghost Orchid: back from the dead

  27 April 2010
  Plantlife is delighted with the news that the Ghost Orchid, declared extinct in 2005 after it had not been found since 1986, was found in the autumn of 2009 in Herefordshire after several weeks hunting by dedicated amateur botanist Mark Jannink.

• Taking steps for wild flowers

  28 March 2010
  Plantlife Scotland is today launching an easy-to-use set of postcards that will help everyone to identify some of the most commonly seen wild flowers growing in the area where they live.

• Good news for very rare Surrey plant lost since World War II

  24 March 2010
  Starved Wood-sedge – a delicate grass-like plant with tall flowering stems - is one of Britain’s rarest plants, until recently found in only two locations in Surrey and Somerset.

• Tony Hare 1954 – 2010

  20 March 2010
  Remembering Plantlife's first chair and co-founder, who died in January aged 55.

• Bee Scene! New national children’s survey of wild flowers launches this spring

  20 March 2010
  Plantlife and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust are asking children to ‘Bee Scene’ in 2010 by taking part in a new survey designed especially for them.

• Welsh Ghost Orchid Declaration launch

  16 March 2010
  On Wednesday 17 March 2010, Plantlife Cymru hosted an evening reception at the Millennium Centre, Cardiff to rally Assembly Members and policy makers to recognise the importance, as well as the beauty, of Wales's threatened and disappearing wild plants

• Action for rare plants in Hampshire’s Thames Basin

  18 February 2010
  A new project run by conservation charity Plantlife aims to help rare and threatened plant species to flourish in heathlands in the Thames Basin.

• Garden centres take action against invasive pond plant

  01 January 2010
  Plantlife is delighted that the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) and the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA) have advised their members to carefully dispose of any creeping water primrose they have for sale.

• Plantlife joins biggest ever climate change march

  07 December 2009
  Plantlife showed its support for action on climate change on Saturday 5th December by joining The Wave march in London.