Saving the Rare Plants of Eryri
About this episode
Martha Kearney explores the efforts to protect and restore rare arctic-alpine plants in Eryri with conservationists and naturalists.
Martha Kearney meets the people protecting and restoring rare arctic-alpine plants in Eryri, also know as Snowdonia. Robbie Blackhall-Miles is a conservation horticulturist working for the charity Plantlife. He shows Martha his secret nursery for rare plants where he's been propagating species such as the previously extinct rosy saxifrage, in preparation for reintroducing them to the mountains. Martha and Robbie travel to the valley of Nant Ffrancon where work has been happening in collaboration with farmers to change grazing practices, in order to help the arctic-alpine plants survive. This work has been happening as a part of the Tlysau Mynydd Eryri / Mountain Jewels of Eryri project, which is part of the wider National Heritage Lottery funded Natur am Byth (meaning Nature Forever) partnership project. We hear how the National Trust will be expanding Robbie's work in reconnecting habitats in their new Natur i Bobl Nant Ffrancon project (meaning ‘Nature for the people of Nant Ffrancon’). Martha then goes to meet the naturalist Twm Elias who has spent his life educating people about the nature and stories of Eryri. He explains how plants and other elements of the landscape get…
People in this episode
Host: Martha Kearney
Guests: Robbie Blackhall-Miles, Twm Elias
Topics covered
- conservation
- rare plants
- Eryri
- grazing practices
- habitat restoration
- education
- Welsh culture
Keywords
- Eryri
- rare plants
- conservation
- grazing practices
- rosy saxifrage
- habitat restoration
- Welsh names
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Plantlife, National Trust, Natur am Byth, Natur i Bobl Nant Ffrancon
Books & works: rosy saxifrage
Places: Eryri, Snowdonia, Nant Ffrancon
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