(Image: Martin Rogers)
An ambitious conservation project has been launched to help safeguard a collection of rare Arctic-alpine plants that have survived in the heights of County Durham since the end of the last Ice Age.
The three-year project in Upper Teesdale aims to protect species that have survived for thousands of years.
The scheme has received £64,739 from the North Pennines National Landscape’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme and will be run by the Teesdale Special Flora Trust and the landscape team.
Bird’s Eye Primrose (Image: Martin Rogers)
Dr Margaret Bradshaw, the renowned founder of the Teesdale Special Flora Trust, said: "The trust was established to promote research into, and conservation of, the special flora of Upper Teesdale and to raise awareness of the fragility of the special flora and the importance of protecting it.
"This project is crucial to support the ongoing research and conservation of these rare species."
Upper Teesdale is one of the top five botanical hotspots in Britain and Ireland, home to more than 100 plants of conservation interest.
Hoary Rock Rose. (Image: Supplied)
Among them is the Teesdale Assemblage, a unique group of 20 rare and endangered Arctic-alpine plants thought to have survived continuously since soon after the last glaciation, 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
The project will collect seed from plants in suitable hotspots with large enough populations, then plant plug plants in trial plots on the fell.
Volunteers will be trained to identify plants, collect seed, propagate them and sow them at the end of the season.
This season, Patsy Bigley has been the Trust’s botanical assistant. Patsy said: "Plants have always been my passion, and I've trained and worked in horticulture for years before moving into conservation.
"I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with Upper Teesdale and working with the Trust to help safeguard this rare flora for the future."
The funding is conditional on the Trust providing £15,000 in match funding over three years.
Sarah Tooze, programme manager for natural heritage at the North Pennines National Landscape, said: "The Upper Teesdale arctic-alpine assemblage is one of the country’s most important groupings of rare wild plants, including over 170 species of plants which are of conservation concern, such as bird’s eye primrose, spring gentian and yellow marsh saxifrage.
"These plants are identified as champion species of the North Pennines National Landscape in the forthcoming management plan and we have a responsibility to look after them.
"We are looking forward to working with local farmers on ways to support these fragile species.
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"Staff from our team will also support by helping to train volunteers on seed collection."
The funding will expand the trust’s work, including surveys, habitat mapping and practical conservation in the field.
Donations to support the trust’s research and conservation work in Upper Teesdale can be made through its website.