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Many plants are special to Wales. Some of them are vulnerable and could even become extinct. It is these gems which Plantlife Cymru is working to save as part of the Natur am Byth! flagship project. This larger project unites nine environmental charities (of which Plantlife Cymru is one) with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to deliver the country’s largest natural heritage and outreach programme to save species from extinction and reconnect people to nature. We are running two projects within the Natur am Byth project.
Tlysau Mynydd Eryri/Eryri’s Mountain Jewels
In this project we are working in one of the richest areas for mountain plants in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands. Project Officer Robbie Blackhall-Miles is working to save 14 species, which include montane flowering plants and ferns, a tree and an insect, from extinction in Wales.
• Persicaria vivipara• Alpine Mouse-ear – Cerastium alpinum – Clust-y-llygoden Alpaidd• Alpine Saw-wort – Saussurea alpina – Lliflys y mynydd• Alpine Woodsia – Woodsia alpina – Rhedynen-woodsia Alpaidd• Pisidium coventus• Holly Fern – Polystichum lonchitis – Rhedynen Gelyn• Irish Saxifrage – Saxifraga rosacea – Tormaen Iwerddon• Mountain Avens – Dryas octopetala – Derig• Oblong woodsia – Woodsia silvensis – Rhedynen-woodsia Hirgul• Snowdon Hawkweed – Hieracium snowdoniense – Heboglys yr Wyddfa• Tufted Saxifrage – Saxifraga cespitosa – Tormaen Siobynnog• Common Juniper – Juniperus communis – Merywen• Snowdon Beetle – Chrysolina cerealis – Chwilen yr Wyddfa
A team effort
In the Tlysau Mynydd Eryri project Robbie Blackhall-Miles is working with volunteers, mountain guides, local plant nurseries, land managers and botanical experts. Together they are painstakingly turning around the fortunes of these rare mountain species and setting them on the road to recovery. Along the way they are celebrating these beautiful mountain jewels and the landscapes they live in.
The challenges
The selected species are rare because they have, and continue to, face many challenges. Tourists in the Victorian era indulged in the fashion of collecting ferns and montane plants which reduced their numbers substantially. More recently farming practice and the way the land is used has changed out of all recognition. Today air-borne pollution, in particular nitrogen, together with climate change are making life very difficult for these clean air and cold loving plants.
This project is saving very rare lichens and bryophytes living on veteran trees and dry rocky outcrops and hilltops in an area stretching from near Presteigne, Radnorshire to Gregynog near Newtown. Project officer Ellie Baggett is working to revive populations of 15 species which include some of our rarest lichens, mosses and 3 insect species.
• Scarce Cardinal Beetle – Schizotus pectinicornis – Chwilen ysgarlad,• a Firedot lichen – Caloplaca lucifuga• Circumspect Dotted Lichen – Scutula circumspecta• Prysgwydden y Coed – Anaptychia ciliaris ciliaris – Eagle’s Claw• Geranium Firedot Lichen – Caloplaca herbidella• Lecanographa amylacea – a lichen• Buellia violaceofusca – a lichen• Sap-groove Lichen – Bellicidia incompta• Horsehair lichen – Bryoria fuscescens• Black Crystalwort – Riccia nigrella – Grisial-lys Du• Dog Screw-moss -Tortula canescens – Mwsogl troellog• Upright Apple-moss – Bartramia aprica – Afal-fwsogl• Oak Polypore – Buglossoporus quercinus -Ysgwydd y Derw• Wasp-banded Comb-horn Cranefly – Ctenophora flaveolata – Pryf Teiliwr• a false darkling beetle – Hypulus quercinus – Chwilen saprosylig
Working with farmers
In the Welsh Marches Ellie Baggett is working with farmers and local communities to develop and put into action various practical techniques. These include clearing scrub – bushes, bracken and rank grass – so that the light loving lichens can thrive. She is also encouraging farmers to care for their veteran trees so that the lichen and moss which depend on them survive. By planting trees in the right places, Ellie hopes in years to come they will become veteran trees and provide habitats for these lichens.
Several factors mean the selected rare lichen, moss and insect species are in danger of extinction. Some of them are actually adapted to the climate of the Mediterranean, and are near the northern limit of their global range in Wales. In some places there’s too much growth from adjacent vegetation which stops sunlight from reaching the specific lichen or moss. Elsewhere it is the veteran trees which provide the lichen or moss species with homes, which are themselves at risk of falling in storms. Another threat comes from the air, since many of the lichen species are sensitive to nitrogen pollution.
Through the Tlysau Mynydd Eryri partnership project, the beautiful Rosy Saxifrage has been reintroduced to Wales, more than six decades after becoming extinct.
The Arctic alpine plant was last seen on cliff edges in the Eryri (Snowdonia) region in 1962. Now plants that have direct lineage to these specimens are blooming once again, close to where they were last recorded.Read more here.
Watch as Robbie reintroduces this plant back to the crags of Cwm Idwal and learn more about the project and this special plant.
Our work is just one part of the wider Natur am Byth! programme. The 67 target species were chosen as a result of culmination of a major piece of work to establish those that are facing the greatest threat of extinction, and are of particular importance to Wales. This was informed by the Environment (Wales) Act section 7 list, and through consultation with natural heritage experts across Wales and the UK.
Image: Survey work in Eryri © Lizzie Wilberforce – Plantlife
We welcome hearing from anyone who would like to speak to us about the programme or help us to shape it. You can email the Plantlife Cymru team about the project on cymru@plantlife.org.uk
Work on the programme started in 2023, and will continue until the summer of 2027.
The partnership has budgeted total programme costs at £8m.
Thanks to players of the National Lottery, we have secured £4.1m delivery phase funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund.
NRW has contributed £1.7m and the Natur am Byth partners have secured a further £1.4m from Welsh Government, Arts Council of Wales and a number of charitable trusts, foundations, and corporate donors. These include donations from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and significant support from Welsh Government’s Landfill Disposals Tax Communities Scheme administered by Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA).
With thanks to the following funders:
Tlysau Mynydd Eryri will also collect data about some of our scarcest species to inform habitat restoration at scale.
Did you know that on the high peaks of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and on the Glyderau there grows a forest that is little more than a foot high? A forest of Juniper nestled among the rocks in the crags and crevices.
A recent study undertaken in conjunction with Tlysau Mynydd Eryri and Bangor University used the fragmented records of trees that still exist on Eryri’s high peaks, historic literature, and evidence from peat cores, to piece together what the composition of this woodland may have been in Wales.
What the study found was a complex mosaic woodland made of:
Downy birch Betula pubescens, Alder Alnus glutinosa, Hazel Corylus avellana, Goat Willow Salix caprea, Grey Willow Salix cinerea, Rusty Willow Salix cinerea subsp. oleifolia, Creeping Willow Salix repens, Eared Willow Salix aurita, Aspen Populus tremula, Dwarf Willow Salix herbacea, Juniper Juniperus communis subsp. nana, Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala, Sweet Briar Rosa rubiginosa, Burnet Rose Rosa spinosissima, and Wild Raspberry Rubus idaeus.
The trees of Eryri are still under recorded and the records of trees in the high mountains are limited. Alpine Juniper Juniperus communis subsp. nana is the most recorded tree in the uplands of Wales due to some targeted survey work that took place in the 1990s. Discover more about these miniature forests in a blog by Robbie Blackhall-Miles here.
Reverse the red
February is Reverse the Red’s Fungi month as well as St Valentines day.
Join Senior Ecologist Sarah Shuttleworth for a deadwood date, as she shares what gets fungi swiping right on the wood wide web.
Elfcups are red
Roundheads are blue
Fungi and plants,
Share a connection? it’s true…
Although February might not be a month you associate with fungi, the organisms are still there under the surface – it’s just the fruiting bodies like mushrooms and toadstools we tend to see in autumn.
It’s under the surface where a large proportion of fungi are directly connected to other plants roots via the fungi’s mycelial network, root-like structure made of branching, thread like hyphae.
On February the 14th whilst we humans are celebrating deep connections with loved ones, plants and fungi are exchanging resources through their own deep connections. Virtually all plants on earth form these relationships, with only about 5-10% of plants not relying on these fungal friendships.
Mycorrhizal is the name we give the type of fungi that can tap into the root cells of plants. The fungus gets its energy requirements and carbon from the plant, and the plant gets nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc from the fungi, as well as improved access to water.
This network of fungi mycelium and plant/tree roots is often affectionately referred to as the ‘Wood Wide Web’.
The infamous, bright red toadstool Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria has mycorrhizal relationships with birch trees, pines and spruces, so they are mostly found near some of these species.
Although you are unlikely to find any Fly Agaric toadstools at this time of year, if you look hard enough there are still some fungi species with visible fruiting bodies….
Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes can still be spotted growing on stumps and trunks of dead hardwood trees, particularly Ash, Beech and Oak. They have caramel to orange-coloured caps and grow in overlapping tiers.
Jelly Ear Auricularia auricula is another one you can spot, looking almost exactly like ears made of jelly on dead or dying wood, particularly Elder trees.
Fungi are vital to life on earth as well as providing an entire kingdom of wonder and magic. We still don’t know 90% of the fungi species estimated to be present on the planet. From the species we do know about we benefit from them in so many ways – from nutrient recycling, edibility, making food products, medicines, manufacturing, biomaterials as well as natural wonder.
We are already starting to lose known species, with approximately 400 UK species Under Threat on the IUCN Red Data List. Globally we are risking losing species we don’t even know about yet, with all their potential uses and beauty lost forever.
Scarlet Elfcup Sarcoscypha austriaca is one of the most striking species being bright valentine-heart red and is one you can find out and about now.
Spotting these bright red pixie-like cups on the woodland floor amongst mosses and twigs, is certain to fill most hearts with as much joy as a dozen red roses surely?
Fungi are one of our most fascinating creations, and best of all, they are right under our noses – perfect for children to spot.
Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.
Chris Jones, the Warden of Kenfig National Nature Reserve, recently found the very rare fungus, during a routine survey.
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