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I’ve been spending a lot of time reading what little information there is on One-flowered Wintergreen, Moneses uniflora, doing site visits, and chatting with other experts. I’ve been trying to figure out what has caused its sharp decline in abundance and distribution globally, and how we can help prevent it here in Scotland.  

The uncomfortable answer I’ve come to is that we still don’t really know all that well. Around 10% of the Scottish population is in the Cairngorms, the rest distributed sparsely across the Highlands. In the last 50 years, I estimate that we’ve lost half of our populations, and of those remaining, only a few are stable or improving. We may soon lose all One-flowered Wintergreen in the UK without intervention. 

White bell like flowers called One Flowered Wintergreen

Saving One-flowered Wintergreen

Thousands of years ago, before significant human alteration to the landscape of Britain, perhaps One-flowered Wintergreen existed in a particular niche. It may have relied on the bare ground made by a wild boar digging for roots in the woodland, or the wood pulp made by a beaver chopping a tree, or the trampled ground under the hoof a mighty Auroch. 

In the modern world humans create this niche for them more than animals, and sadly, our modern management of pine woods has favoured it less. Through research and collaboration, we will be able to manage woodlands holistically, providing a mosaic of habitat for One-flowered Wintergreen in Scottish pinewoods, as well as other rare native species. 

In Autumn 2023 we translocated 109 individual One-flowered Wintergreen rosettes from two sites in to RSPB Abernethy, reinforcing a tiny relic population. This is a very early trial, as much a learning experience for future work, as it is to improve the condition of the Abernethy population.

I have been cautious to publicise this work, as, given no one has ever translocated One-flowered Wintergreen before (or even worked towards conservation of this species), I was prepared for total failure. However, the good news is, after 9 months at their new site, survival of rosettes remains above 70%. This is excellent for a plant translocation and bodes well for further Wintergreen translocations.

We hope to do more translocations to allow genetic mixing between populations and to rescue them from threatened sites. In addition to collecting plants for translocation, 12 plants went to Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, where they have been working towards understanding the complex fungal interactions which One-flowered Wintergreen relies upon to survive, and in particular, to germinate.

Why is One-flowered Wintergreen in trouble? 

One-flowered Wintergreen is the only member of its genus Moneses, closely related to Pyrola, a group containing the other wintergreens, such as Intermediate Wintergreen (Pyrola media). Sadly, all are rare and in decline.  

True wintergreens are partial-mycoheterotrophs, which means that they have an alternative to photosynthesis for acquiring their energy to grow. They can parasitically take sugars and other minerals from fungus in woodland soils.

This ability to uptake energy from the soil as a supplement to their photosynthesis is likely part of why they are so challenging to understand and to propagate in captivity. There have also been suggestions that the presence of specific fungi is necessary for the tiny powder like seeds to germinate. 

What have we learnt?

One-flowered Wintergreen does not seem to have an easily definable niche. It is very rare, only occurring at specific sites, and often isolated to an area a few tens of metres across in a large and apparently suitable woodland.

Recently, we have had some breakthroughs helping us to understand this plant better. Trials of cattle grazing in woodland have yielded rapid recovery in a One-flowered Wintergreen population. Another site was heavily trampled and disturbed in the process of Rhododendron removal, again yielding rapid recovery of Wintergreen. These plants all seem to recover on sites where bare ground, trampled wood, and organic material are present.  

On forestry sites, One-flowered Wintergreen appears to grow only along forestry tracks and where the ground has been historically disturbed. A picture is starting to emerge of this species favouring periodic heavy disturbance of woodland soils.

Armed with this information we are providing advice to current land managers. We are also investigating options for a small-scale trial translocation of One-flowered Wintergreen, as much to aid in our learning of the needs of this rare flower, as to aid the genetic resilience of a small and struggling population.  

Saving Wintergreen, A Confusing Wee Flower 
Star shaped white flower with 5 petals.

Saving Wintergreen, A Confusing Wee Flower 

Plantlife’s Cairngorms Project Manager Sam Jones reveals how a tiny flower in Scotland is fighting back against extinction in the UK.

How does Air Pollution impact Temperate Rainforests?

How does Air Pollution impact Temperate Rainforests?

Air pollution often poses the biggest danger to internationally rare habitats and nitrogen gases have the potential to destroy our temperate rainforests.

Purple Oxytropis – a Plant Living on The Edge of Extinction
Purple Oxytropis flower growing on the side of boulders.

Purple Oxytropis – a Plant Living on The Edge of Extinction

Alistair Whyte, Head of Plantlife Scotland shares his thoughts on Scotland's Plant Relict, Purple Oxytropis

Across our downlands, this iconic shrub has failed to regenerate for the past 60 years and as the bushes reach the end of their lives, whole colonies are dying out.

Juniper had been lost from nearly 50% of its historic range and without vital conservation work, is likely to become extinct in lowland England within the next 50 years, in turn impacting on the species it supports, such as Goldcrest, Fieldfare and Song Thrush.

Plantlife is leading the fight to save Juniper

In the Saving England’s Lowland Juniper project, Plantlife joined forces with landowners, supported by Natural England, to revitalise Juniper across southern England. 48 patches of land at nine sites in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire were scraped back to create a grassland habitat suitable for Juniper to regenerate. These efforts focused on hotspots where Juniper is in rapid decline and took place in partnership with the Wylye Valley Farmers Group. Early successional habitat suitable for Juniper regeneration has been created as a result, with the land then seeded with Juniper collected from nearby bushes.

Revitalising Juniper in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire

The project areas in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire have been selected as they are key areas on our southern chalk grassland where Juniper population patches can be re-established and where clusters of populations occur in close proximity.

This is the first time Juniper has been regenerated in a near-natural manner on a landscape scale anywhere in the British Isles. It comes following a successful trial, which saw more the 200 new Juniper bushes regenerate within ten years on land scraped by Plantlife in 2009.

The bare ground will also benefit 16 other threatened and scarce plant species which colonise early successional habitat including:

  • Kidney Vetch
  • Autumn Gentian
  • Carline Thistle
  • Yellow-wort
  • Common Rock-rose
  • Fairy Flax
  • Harebell and four species of Orchid.
A gloved hand picks Juniper berries

Juniper, Juniperus communis, is a prickly, sprawling evergreen shrub in the Cypress family with short spiky leaves. It blooms with small yellow flowers, followed by ‘berries’ (which are actually fleshy cones) that start green but ripen to blue-black.

It is unusual in its choice of habitats which contract greatly between the north, where it grows on acid soils in cold and rainy places, and the south, where it favours hot, dry calcium-rich soils.

The Saving England’s Lowland Juniper project was funded primarily by Defra’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, with support from Formula Botanica.

We are continuously looking for further funding and support on the development of grassland habitat.

  • Go to:
Several purple Early Marsh Orchids in the grassland

What are orchids? 

Orchids are part of the largest and most highly evolved family of flowering plants on earth. They are usually highly specialised to a specific habitat, with equally specialised relationships with pollinators, and fungi which live in the soil. 

What makes them so rare?

The majority of species reproduce via tiny seeds that are known as ‘dust seeds’ which need perfect conditions to germinate – with some species even relying on specific types of fungi in the soil for them to grow. This means that conditions in the soil and habitat need to be exactly right for an orchid species to thrive, hence why we don’t encounter them all the time. 

One UK orchid has gained huge notoriety for its rarity, the Ghost Orchid Epipogium aphyllum. This species is currently regarded as extinct but with hopes for its re-discovery. Occurring in Beech woodlands in deep leaf litter where gets its energy from decaying matter, it’s appropriately named for its pinkish white ghostly appearance rising from dead leaves.   

Where can you find orchids in the UK?

Although orchids are not the most common plant you will find, they do occur in a huge variety of habitats. Traditional hay meadows and pastures can host several species, the most common of these are

  • Common Spotted Dactylorhiza fuchsii
  • Marsh Orchids Dactylorhiza sp
  • Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera and
  • Common Twayblade Listera ovata

Many orchids also specialise in woodlands, for example Early Purple Orchid Orchis mascula, Helleborines Epipactus sp and Bird’s-nest Orchid Neottia nidus-avis (pictured), a fascinating yellow orchid without any chlorophyll that depends entirely on getting its food from decaying material in the leaf litter. There are also species that grow in fens and bogs, pine forests, heathlands and dunes.  

The majority of the time due to the specific requirements for growth, orchids tend to be associated with long established habitats, that haven’t had lots of disturbance. Therefore, a nature reserve can often be a useful place to look.  

How to spot orchids in the wild?

The best time of year to look for orchids tends to be late spring and early summer. Quite a few UK orchids have spotted leaves, making them even more distinctive and easy to spot. 

They are perennial plants, and in the UK are formed of a spike of flowers on a single stem. They all share a similar flower structure, despite the huge variety in their appearance. There are 3 sepals (outer protective petal-like parts) and 3 main petals, with one that usually forms a lower lip known as the labellum. This lip is often the largest and most distinctive ‘petal’ structure of the flower. 

Often their intricate design and some species astonishing mimicry to tempt pollinators is one of the most intriguing features of these plants. With Bee and Fly Orchids imitating these insects to attract them to land on the flower, mistaking them for a potential mate, and thereby pollinating the flower. 

How to tell them apart?

The key features of orchids for identification other than habitat, are the leaves (shape and markings) and the lower lip of the flower (labellum). The easiest species to start with are Early Purple Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid, Bee Orchid and Common Twayblade. This is because they are relatively more common than other species and most can occur in grassland and woodland habitats. 

It is always exciting to find any kind of orchid, and worthy of a photo! Just remember to be careful not to tread on any nearby orchids that are just coming up. Share the photos with friends, as you never known who doesn’t know that our wonderful UK orchid species even exist.  

Further reading 

FSC Orchid Guide

The Orchid Hunter by Leif Bersweden  

Britain’s Orchids A Field Guide to the Orchids of Great Britain and Ireland by Sean Cole, Michael Waller and Sarah Stribbling  

Everything you need to know about No Mow May and the No Mow Movement
A lawn is bursting to life with wildflowers. A house can be seen in the background. In the foreground a banner reads, 'I'm giving power to the flowers'.

Everything you need to know about No Mow May and the No Mow Movement

If you have any questions before getting started, from what happens when you stop mowing, to which flowers might pop up – here's everything you need to know to join the movement. 

Top Tips for Nature Friendly Gardening this Spring
A wilder lawn with Dandelions

Top Tips for Nature Friendly Gardening this Spring

The sun is shining, the days are longer and our green fingers are ready to get stuck back in to some spring gardening.

The Rare Lichen that Travelled from Cornwall to Norfolk
Dave Lamacraft translocating Scrambled Egg Lichen in Norfolk

The Rare Lichen that Travelled from Cornwall to Norfolk

An incredible story of returning one of England’s rarest lichens to its historic home – more than 350 miles away.

New things are always exciting, right? The first time something in your garden flowers, a new patch of Bee Orchids in an unmown lawn, a new record of something rare on your NPMS patch? How about a whole new plant species for your country?

That’s exactly what happened to me in the summer of 2021 – but first, some background.

Discovering Welsh clubmosses

Clubmosses are a group of plants that really excite me. They are a group of plants that have been around in one form or another since the Silurian period (that’s over 430 million years ago). We have five species here in Eryri: Alpine, Marsh, Fir, Lesser and Stag’s Horn. We had another, Interrupted Clubmoss Lycopodium annotinum, until the late 1830’s when William Wilson last saw it above Llyn Y Cwn (The lake of the Dogs) high above Cwm Idwal. By 1894 J.E. Griffith had declared Interrupted Clubmoss extinct in Wales in his ‘Flora of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire’. I have hunted for Interrupted Clubmoss now for years to no avail – I won’t give up.

A good day out in the mountains for me is a ‘four clubmoss day’. A ‘five clubmoss day’ will take me past just a couple of very specific points where I would see Marsh Clubmoss Lycopodiella inundata as well, and would force me on to a longer and circuitous route to get to the places to see the other four.

Hares Foot Clubmoss in it's habitat

When I botanise abroad, the Clubmosses feature as high points in my adventures and I was particularly pleased to find one of our own indigenous species, Stags Horn Clubmoss Lycopodium clavatum growing high in the mountains of South Africa when I was there in 2017.

Seeing these plants, that have remained little changed for such a long time that still exist in our anthropogenic world, really excites me. I always look out for them whether they be tiny plants of Lesser Clubmoss Selaginella selaginoides growing in Calcium rich seepages or fens, or huge sprawling mats of Alpine Clubmoss Diphasiastrum alpinum that grow high on our most exposed sheep grazed mountain slopes.

Discovering the Hares Foot Clubmoss

And so it was that one day in 2021 whilst walking a path that I rarely use, I spotted a clubmoss that really stood out to me. This clubmoss bore a resemblance to Stags Horn Clubmoss, but its growth habit was remarkably upright and the majority of its cones being solitary at the end of its stems (peduncles) rather than in twos or threes on the end of short stems (pedicels) at the apex of the peduncles. In the back of my mind, I remembered another species of clubmoss that had quite recently been confirmed as being present in the UK. So, using the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland’s Code of Conduct I collected a small sample and took lots and lots of photographs.

On returning home that day I contacted a friend, David Hill, to see what he thought of the find – we were both a little confused and unhappy to declare what we thought it may be. You see, Hares Foot Clubmoss Lycopodium lagopus hadn’t been found further south than Scotland in the UK, and was considered rare there. The confusion for us was that L. lagopus and L. clavatum are very closely related and share a lot of characteristics.

A close up of Hares Foot Clubmoss

The conversation continued between us for almost a year before I was able to go back to the site and see the plants with fresh cones. This time I carefully collected another sample and even more photographs and took them with me to the BSBI Botanical Conference at the Natural History Museum in London, where I thought I would be guaranteed to bump into Dr. Fred Rumsey – the man who wrote ‘the paper’ on Hares Foot Clubmoss as a UK species.

Sure enough, Fred was happy to declare this to have all the characteristics of Lycopodium lagopus and thus a new member of the Welsh flora.

A new species for Wales

Seeing our Welsh Clubmosses is exciting, finding a brand spanking new one is REALLY exciting. I had bottled up my excitement at finding this ‘something new’ for an awfully long time. The specimens had sat on my desk for nearly two years before Dr Rumsey had managed to see them. So, I am really pleased to tell you about it now.

We have six species of Clubmoss in Wales again, but not with the one we thought we may rediscover. To see them all in one walk would be a very long walk indeed so a ‘four clubmoss day’ will remain a good day in the mountains, a ‘five clubmoss day’ is still exceptional and a ‘six clubmoss day’, I am afraid, is just exhausting. One day I may be able to have a ‘seven clubmoss day’- that Interrupted Clubmoss may yet still survive somewhere in the mountains of Eryri.

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi
A red fungi growing in grass

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi

Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.

How to Stand up for Wildlife and Protect Local Sites From Being Destroyed
Crop spraying.

How to Stand up for Wildlife and Protect Local Sites From Being Destroyed

Every day, our wild plants and fungi are put at risk from planning decisions, chemical sprays and more. Find out what you can do to help protect nature.

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

Discover how you can identify the mosses where you live, and read about Lizzie's challenge to learn 10 mosses!

Species on the Edge
North Coast Launch

Come and join us for the launch of a project to save Scotland’s most beautiful and most vulnerable species

Sunday 21 May 2023
11am – 2pm
Dunnet Community Forest

Pink purplish Scottish Primrose flowers in a field of grass

The north coast is home to some of Scotland’s most beautiful and most vulnerable species.
Together, we can help protect them.

Learn more. Drop in to find out about the Species on the Edge four-year programme of conservation activities on the north coast, including how you can contribute to increasing biodiversity in our area.

Come and try. Have a go at surveying potential sites to help us identify the best location to create a butterfly bank. Support will be provided – no experience necessary.

Cake provided. Bring your own picnic or packed lunch. We will supply hot drinks and cake.

Everyone welcome. Craft activities and a nature hunt will be available for children, who must be accompanied by an adult.

For more information about the event, or if you would like to know more about volunteering with us or the Species on the Edge programme of work, but can’t come on the day, contact louise.senior@plantlife.org.uk

 

 

The north coast of Scotland makes for a spectacular office: vast, luminescent skies; rolling seas that change from steely grey to aquamarine with the passing clouds; towering sea cliffs, sand dunes and rocky coves; and, despite having the lowest population density in Scotland, a wonderful assortment of friendly and fascinating folk.

It is also home to some of Scotland’s most vulnerable species: Scottish Primrose, Oyster Plant, Purple Oxytropis, Great Yellow Bumblebee and Small Blue Butterfly.

As a community worker and anthropologist, Plantlife’s Louise Senior is thrilled to be spending the next four years here as part of the Species on the Edge team, working alongside local communities to excite and enthuse people about the natural beauty of the world that we share and taking action to help improve the outlook for these special plants and insects.

Species on the Edge is a partnership of eight of Scotland’s nature conservation organisations. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we are working collaboratively to safeguard 37 priority species found along Scotland’s coast and islands.

A Purple Oxytropis within a rocky outcrop

From Durness to Dunnet

The Species on the Edge North Coast area extends from Durness to Dunnet and the work here is being led by Plantlife. As well as targeted conservation action which will include surveying, monitoring and habitat management and will be overseen by Sarah Bird, our Senior Project Officer, Louise Senior, the People Engagement Officer, is responsible for planning a programme of community work.

Combining creative arts, wellbeing and nature to support people to explore their natural environment in new ways will be fun and challenging in equal measure. In the pipeline already are a series of watercolour workshops, a summer holiday award programme for young people and a plan to use public venues to “host” homegrown Scottish Primrose, Oyster Plant and Purple Oxytropis, making these difficult to find plants accessible to everyone.

Species on the Edge is a partnership project of eight organisations, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The partnership consists of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, The Bat Conservation Trust, Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, NatureScot, Plantlife, and RSPB Scotland.

 

Protecting Scottish Peatlands
Munsary

Protecting Scottish Peatlands

Plantlife’s policy team have responded to a Scottish Government consultation on a potential ban on peat sales. This consultation is welcome but long overdue.

Species on the Edge
Pink purplish Scottish Primrose flowers in a field of grass

Species on the Edge

Species on the Edge is a partnership of eight of Scotland's nature conservation organisations. We are working collaboratively to safeguard 37 priority species found along Scotland's coast and islands.

Saving Scotland’s Rainforest Project
River running through a Scottish rainforest

Saving Scotland’s Rainforest Project

A project led by the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest to protect and restore this globally important habitat

I’m lucky enough to have worked in our temperate rainforests for well over a decade now, and although much of our recent work here at Plantlife has had a focus on rainforest areas of England, through our LOST project in the Lake District and the Building Resilience project in South-West England, both funded by  the National Lottery Heritage Fund, I’ve had the opportunity to get out into some of our Welsh rainforest in past weeks and been reminded just how special they are.

Lungwort at Dolmelynllyn

The first of these visits was to the National Trust’s Dolmelynllyn estate at Ganllwyd to look at some transplants of Lungwort lichens that we undertook 5 years ago. This was initially an attempt to rescue these lichens from an old Ash tree that was literally clothed in Lungwort lichens, of three varieties, that blew down in a summer gale. Transplanting these big leafy species is relatively straightforward to do in practical terms but hard to get right, the skill is in finding the right niche and one that’s away from the chomping teeth of slugs.

Success is far from guaranteed, and the majority of these transplants had succumbed to slug browsing. There were some notable successes though, with this ‘lob scrob’ Lobarina scrobiculata thriving on a Sycamore, all the better as this is one of the rarer lungwort lichens in Wales. The area where this was transplanted has spectacular communities of lichens on old Ash, Oak and Sycamore trees, probably the best display of lungwort lichens in Wales with abundant Tree Lungwort Lobaria pulmonaria, Parchment Lichen Ricasolia amplissima, ‘Stinky Stictas’ Sticta fuliginosa and Sticta sylvatica and Blue Jelly-skin Leptogium cyanescens.

Up in the clouds at Trawsfynydd

Another site visit took me to a remote woodland near Trawsfynydd where we’re helping Natural Resources Wales work out how best to manage this woodland. Although only a few miles up the road from Ganllwyd this is a very different woodland to Dolmelynllyn being at higher altitude and exposed to higher levels of rainfall this favours different communities of lichen and bryophyte with what could be considered our ‘cloud-forest’ lichens and a rich ‘hyperoceanic’ bryophyte flora including many rare species.

This has also reminded me just how diverse our rainforest is, in the same that way that no two wetlands, estuaries or mountains are the same, no bit of temperate rainforest is the same. They all differ according to geology, topography, aspect, climate, history, management etc; our temperate rainforest in South-West England is quite different to that in Western Scotland, with Wales somewhere in between. They are especially influenced by ‘oceanicity’ – the degree to which proximity to the Atlantic influences climate – and broadly speaking they are drier and sunnier to the south and much wetter to the north.

This basically means that you’ll never see the same things twice and there’s a lifetime of exploration to be had. I’d urge anyone to grab a hand lens (by no means essential, but definitely helps appreciate the small things) and head out to explore.

Some of my favourite rainforests to visit in Wales are:

  • The National Trust’s Hafod y Llan and the woodlands of Nant Gwynant, nestling below Snowdon
  • The Woodland Trust’s Coed Felinrhyd and Llennyrch in Dyffryn Ffestiniog
  • The National Trust’s Dolmelynllyn at Ganllwyd, north of Dolgellau
  • RSPB’s Coed Garth Gell, on the Mawddach west of Dolgellau
  • North Wales Wildlife Trust’s Coed Crafnant in Dyffryn Artro
  • Natural Resources Wales’ Coed Cwm Cletwr, south of Machynlleth
A Six Clubmoss Day: New Species Discovered in Wales
A close up of Hares Foot Clubmoss

A Six Clubmoss Day: New Species Discovered in Wales

Plantlife’s Vascular Plants Officer Robbie Blackhall-Miles finds an exciting new plant species for Wales.

Invasive Plant Species: What are they and why should we be concerned?

Invasive Plant Species: What are they and why should we be concerned?

We’re taking it right back to basics – explaining what makes an invasive plant species, and why they are becoming so problematic both in Wales, and globally.

Grazing to Save Wild Plants, From Eryri to our Garden Lawns 

Grazing to Save Wild Plants, From Eryri to our Garden Lawns 

What do the peaks of the Eryri mountains and our garden lawns have in common? Learn how grazing works to protect our most species-rich habitats.

“Sloping rocky banks and red sandstone cliffs. Extinct.” This is the brief and rather depressing entry for Purple Oxytropis Oxytropis halleri in my old Flora of Angus book (Ingram and Noltie, 1981).

The plant has been gone from Angus for a long time, as it has from North Queensferry and several other locations in Scotland. It’s one of our rarest wildflowers.

Purple oxytropis – a relict

Purple oxytropis is an impressive plant – a member of the Fabaceae (legume) family, with purple flowers, silky leaves and growing in sometimes large colonies in the few places where it does still exist. In the UK, the species is only found in Scotland. Elsewhere, it’s only found in the high mountains of central Europe.

Its Scottish distribution is described as ‘relict’. Most of its remaining populations are coastal, with its stronghold on the north mainland coast. There are a very few populations on the north-east coast, and one extremely isolated population away down on the Mull of Galloway, in the south-west. It’s also found near the summits of three Scottish mountains, two in Perthshire and one in Argyll.

So why is it so rare?

It’s likely that it was never a very common plant, and this country is very much on the northern edge of its range. But there’s no doubt that it was more widely distributed in the past than it is today. Some populations have been lost due to development destroying its habitat. The species is vulnerable to over-grazing– it’s tasty to grazing animals (of which we have an increasing number in Scotland). It also likes open conditions, so won’t thrive in areas that get too encroached with scrub or trees.

Purple oxytropis is dependent on pollinators, mainly bees, to successfully reproduce. Anything impacting on these pollinators will in turn impact on the ability of purple oxytropis to survive.

Its remaining isolated coastal populations are also extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Rising sea levels could be catastrophic, and associated erosion could spell disaster. The species isn’t widely distributed enough to withstand local impacts like this. A recent study carried out for Plantlife concluded that it is probable that the Mull of Galloway population will become extinct if no new plants appear and highlighted the threat that a single event such as a landslip could have on the fragile population there.

The isolated nature of the remaining populations means that the plants are likely to exhibit low genetic diversity and high levels of inbreeding, which will weaken them and make their future survival less likely. However, We don’t know enough about the genetics of the species to be sure.

Does any of this matter?

How much should we care about trying to save a species which is already on the edge of its range? Surely, it’s doing okay in the Alps? The problem with that argument is simply, where do you draw the line? If we lose it from Scotland, does the next closest population become the ‘edge of range’ one which it’s OK to lose? And then the next?

If we want to live in a country that’s rich in wildlife, we must look after the species that make their home here. The problems facing Purple Oxytropis are difficult but not insurmountable. And by tackling the problems facing this species, we will also address these problems for a host of other species which are facing similar threats.

Looking at a map of Purple Oxytropis distribution over time is like watching a series of lights blinking out one by one. I don’t think anyone wants the map to go completely dark. It’s up to us to keep as many lights on as possible.

Plantlife is taking action for Purple Oxytropis through Species on the Edge partnership.

New pools are being created at Greena Moor, a secluded Cornish nature reserve, for the endangered Three-lobed Water Crowfoot Ranunculus tripartitus.

The work was funded by Natural England through their Species Recovery Programme and charitable trusts including the Stuart Heath Charitable Settlement. Nature Reserves Manager Jonathan Stone  have been working to protect the ‘star’ of Greena Moor.

Three-lobed Water Crowfoot is an aquatic member of the buttercup family, the plant has small, white, starry flowers. Like most crowfoots, it has two kinds of leaves; the surface leaves are three-lobed and broad, but the underwater leaves – rarely seen with this species but seen here in this photo – are finely divided and feathery.

The plant was in only two pools

In March 2020, Three-lobed Crowfoot occupied only two small pools near the ford, covering an area of just 7m2, and it was clear that a lack of suitable shallow water bodies was preventing further spread of the species at Greena.

Cows in a field of grass by a gate in Greena Moor

Importance of Grazing

Grazing also plays an important role, helping to control competing vegetation and distributing seed. The cattle grazing at Greena appears ideal, and on the Cornish Lizard heaths Three-lobed Crowfoot has become far more common under similar management conditions.

White flowers with green leaves in a pool of water

10 New Natural Pools

The nature reserves management team have created 10 new pools to encourage more Three-lobed Crowfoot plant. We are very hopeful to seeing similar increases of this beautiful endangered plant over the coming years.

 

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Purple Oxytropis flower growing on the side of boulders.

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The effort Greena Moor Nature Reserve management team put in place to save the Three-lobed Water Crowfoot.

How Fungi Find Love on the Wood Wide Web

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Join Senior Ecologist Sarah Shuttleworth for a deadwood date, as she shares what gets fungi swiping right on the wood wide web.

Back from the Brink was an ambitious partnership initiative to save some of our most threatened species from extinction and reverse their fortunes, putting them back on the road to recovery.  A coalition of seven of the UK’s leading wildlife charities, including Plantlife, came together with Natural England to deliver a suite of 19 conservation projects across England.  Plantlife led four of the projects – Colour in the Margins, Cornish Path Moss, Dorset’s Heathland Heart and Lesser Butterfly Orchid, and was a key partner in a further two – Ancients of the Future and Shifting Sands.

Pink trumpet like flower called Weasels snout.

Colour in the Margins

An extensive programme of 69 reintroductions of target arable plants was undertaken to establish new populations, trial new methodologies and develop best practice.

Moss on a rock

Cornish Path Moss

New areas of bare ground were created for Cornish Path Moss, which at the start of the project was only found at three sites in the world.

 

Dorset’s Heathland Heart

Over 400 patches of heathland microhabitat were created or restored at 13 sites across the Dorset Heaths to benefit 19 target species that are dependent on them including, Marsh Club-moss Lycipodiella inundata, Yellow Centaury Cicendia filiformis and Pale Dog Violet Viola Lactea.

White Lesser Butterfly Orchids.

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

Trial conservation management was carried out at nature reserves in Devon and Cornwall, design to increase populations of Lesser Butterfly-orchid .

Several stems of Yellowish white small flowers - \field wormwood

Shifting Sands

Habitat was restored at 12 key sites in the Breckland, Norfolk and Suffolk, including forest rides and bare ground plots for the rare plant species that thrive in the conditions there. Field Wormwood and Prostrate Perennial Knawel were introduced at nine sites throughout the area

Ancients of the Future

The life of over 200 important veteran trees was extended so they can continue to provide valuable habitat for years to come, whilst the newcomers mature.  Three threatened species of lichen were translocated and 40 trees were inoculated with a threatened species of fungi.

Project Partners

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Bat Conservation Trust, Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Natural England (lead) and RSPB.

Funder

National Lottery Heritage Fund with support from the People’s Postcode Lottery

Relevant Case Studies

Design your LNRS to Deliver for Plants and Fungi

Design your LNRS to Deliver for Plants and Fungi

Drive positive change for your local wildlife and local communities with Plantlife's LNRS Local Nature Recovery Strategy guidance.

Meadow Makers Project
Meadow in north Wales

Meadow Makers Project

Since the 1930s, 97% of wildflower meadows across England and Wales have disappeared – and we're creating positive change.

Clean Air for Wild Plants and Fungi

Clean Air for Wild Plants and Fungi

Read how Plantlife is working with governments and landowners to tackle nitrogen – one of the greatest threats to our wild plants, lichens and fungi