Scottish conservationists relocate 3,400 rare wintergreen plants from coastal erosion

Conservationists have moved 3,400 rare one-flowered wintergreen plants from an eroding stretch of Scotland’s Moray coast to safer ground at Culbin Forest. The rescue aims to prevent their loss to the sea and help protect a species whose UK population has declined sharply.

The tiny wildflower survives at only seven sites in north-east Scotland, and more than half its UK population is estimated to have been lost in 50 years. Volunteers moved sections of soil with the plants to preserve fungi they depend on; although about 50,000 plants remain in Scotland, they may represent fewer than 500 genetically distinct individuals. Climate change and altered forest management are among the pressures on the species, and some plants and seeds have also been moved to a new site.