In a bold effort to safeguard one of Britain’s most endangered wildflowers, conservationists moved 3,400 one‑flowered wintergreen plants from the eroding shoreline of Culbin Forest in Moray to a safer location within the same forest. The tiny, star‑shaped flower, which has lost more than half its UK population in the last five decades, was at risk of being washed into the sea as 2–3 metres of land collapsed over recent years.
NatureScot’s biodiversity adviser Iain Macdonald explained that the relocation was inevitable: “We don’t yet know how many plants will survive at their new home in Culbin Forest, but we do know that it was only a matter of time before they would have all been lost to the sea if we’d left them where they were.”
The species is confined to pine woods in north‑east Scotland, surviving at just seven sites, with only three supporting healthy populations, according to Plantlife Scotland. The charity, working with Forestry and Land Scotland and volunteers, carefully uprooted the plants, cutting out sections of soil to preserve the fungal networks essential for their germination and survival.
Senior ecological adviser Sam Jones of Plantlife Scotland praised the project as “groundbreaking conservation work” that will help prevent the loss of endangered species like the one‑flowered wintergreen. The plant’s survival depends on a complex relationship with woodland fungi, a factor that has complicated efforts to reverse its decline. Changes in forest management and climate‑related shifts in soil moisture have further threatened the species.
While an estimated 50,000 plants remain in Scotland, they reproduce asexually, meaning the number of genetically distinct individuals could be fewer than 500. At one site, about 100 plants represented just two distinct individuals. The relocation of 3,400 plants represents a significant step toward preserving this rare species for future generations.
Source: The Guardian World
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