Conservationists relocate rare one-flowered wintergreen to save from sea erosion

Conservationists and volunteers moved 3,400 one-flowered wintergreen plants from an eroding beach to a safer location in Moray, Scotland.

Plantlife Scotland worked with Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot, and local volunteers to rescue the tiny, star-shaped flowers. The plants were located at Culbin Sands, a coastal area of dunes and forest near Findhorn. Sea erosion had threatened to wash the population into the ocean over recent years.

The one-flowered wintergreen is one of the rarest flowers in the United Kingdom and grows primarily in pine woodlands in north-east Scotland. The species can survive by taking energy from fungi in the soil rather than relying solely on photosynthesis. While the plants have already lost more than half of their total population over the last 50 years, the move aims to strengthen their ability to survive in a changing environment.