Action for Rare Plants

Compared to feathered, furry and six-legged creatures, plants often struggle to get their fair share of attention but that is soon to be put right with the arrival of the exciting new Cairngorms Rare Plants Project.

With funding from the Esmee Fairburn Foundation, CNPA, SNH, and support from the University of Aberdeen, this three year project offers a unique opportunity to help conserve some of the rarest plants in the Cairngorms National Park.

The project will focus on four species, twinflower (Linnaea borealis), intermediate wintergreen (Pyrola media), small cow-wheat (Melampyrum sylvaticum) and lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia). The plants targeted through this project have their main UK stronghold in the Cairngorms and are in desperate need of immediate conservation action.

The project will liaise with project partners and land managers to identify the most suitable site-specific approaches to enhance the survival prospects of these species. Assessing current habitat conditions and their potential to support viable populations alongside current site management and the identification of site genetic variation using microsatellite markers will lead to the establishment of best practice for each individual site.

Research through practical management will be undertaken through monitoring and the setting up of control non-intervention plots. Measures of population health in non-intervention sites will indicate the level of change over time and act as a baseline for managed sites. The project will also leave a legacy as site managers will be trained in simple monitoring techniques to ensure that monitoring continues in the future.

This is a partnership project that combines academic research with practical conservation. Partners include CNPA, Cairngorms LBAP partnership, Aberdeen University, Plantlife, SNH, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, RSPB, National Trust for Scotland, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. It will also involve private landowners/estates and volunteer wildlife recorders.

Residents of the Park can get involved by reporting sightings of the target species or by volunteering to conduct simple annual monitoring of a local rare plant population.

For more information or to get involved contact Andy Scobie, Cairngorms Rare Plants Project Officer by
e-mail: a.scobie@abdn.ac.uk , call: 01479 810477 or visit the Cairngorms Rare Plants website.

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