May 25, 2024
Georgina Ranade, BBC climate and science correspondent
BBC/Gwyndaf Hughes
A plant that was extinct in the wild has been reintroduced to mainland Britain. We can't tell you exactly where – we're keeping it a secret for your safety. It's a small plant, but with one in six species at risk of extinction in the UK, you have to start somewhere. We were there when pioneering horticulturist Robbie Blackhall Miles put this plant back into its native soil.
I first met Robbie at his nursery, where he grows endangered plants, tucked away in a quiet corner of North Wales.
The things he stores there are so valuable that they can't even be insured.
He asks me to be careful about how much information I reveal, as there is still a market for rare and specialised plants, which are often harvested illegally and can sell for thousands of pounds.
“There are only 30 of these trees left in the world,” he says, pointing to the pot.
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Robbie Blackhall-Miles looks after rare plants at his specialist nursery.
All around us are trays of seedlings, bags of soil on the floor, plants growing and flowering, with a thermometer hanging from the roof to make sure the plants don't get too hot, too cold, or too dry.
Robbie is tall, athletic and an excited speaker. When I started researching this story, his name kept popping up in the records of the Botanical Society. Few people in Britain knew as much about plants as he did.
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He wanted to rescue animals as a child and after a stint as a model he developed an interest in botany and now works for conservation charity PlantLife.
“If you think of UK biodiversity as a jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces are really important, but some are missing,” he says.
His goal is to work with the National Trust and Natural Resources Wales to restore some of the biodiversity by reintroducing the extinct rose-colored saxifrage – a plant he calls the jewel of the mountains – to Eryri and Snowdonia.
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Robbie Blackhall-Miles has been growing rose-colored saxifrage for 10 years.
The last time the rose-coloured saxifrage was seen growing wild in Britain was in 1962, somewhere in Cwm Idwal Nature Reserve, Elyri.
I wanted to see the place so Robbie and National Trust ranger Reece Weldon-Roberts took me and my colleague to Cwm Idaur.
We walked along the winding path around the lake to a place called Twll Du, or “Devil's Kitchen” which means ominously in English.
Robbie stopped every few steps to point out unusual plants that had survived.
By coincidence, I had been here before, but had been so busy climbing up the mountain cleft that I had completely forgotten about the precious creatures that lived beneath the rocks.
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Victorian plant collectors came to Cwm Idwal, Elyri, to collect plants.
Though the rose-colored saxifrage is listed as extinct, Robbie, an experienced climber, still wanted to double-check: “I spent six years on a rope searching for it, in case I was wrong,” he says, gesturing toward the sheer cliffs.
“Rose saxifrage is the most native plant we have in the UK,” says Robbie, sitting on a rock and quietly taking in the dramatic scene.
It is a type of alpine plant that flourished when the north of Britain was frozen over during the Ice Age. After the glaciers melted, saxifrage persisted and thrived in the alpine environment.
However, its delicate appearance and beautiful flowers soon attracted plant collectors, particularly Victorians, who selected it for their private collections.
Habitat loss and poor grazing management in Elyri subsequently sounded the final death knell for the plant.
Their numbers fell dramatically and they eventually disappeared from mainland Britain.
The next part of the story has a folklore-like quality: In 1962, Dick Roberts, a teacher and conservationist, visited Cwm Idaur on a school trip.
He picked up a piece of a plant that had washed up on the road and put it in his pocket, not knowing what it was, but he took it home and grew it in his garden.
All the rose-coloured saxifrages we see on mainland Britain today come from that little plant, which saved it for future generations.About 10 years ago, Robbie received a cutting to look after.
“I'm so honored to be a part of Dick Roberts' legacy,” he says.
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Robbie described the plant's flowers as looking like “little hands reaching up towards the sky.”
It is extremely rare to be able to reintroduce a species that has genetic descendants from a native species.
In most cases, related species have been used, for example the European beaver was used to reintroduce beavers to the UK.
But Robbie said, holding it in his hands: “It's made from cut-outs of cut-outs of original Welsh material.”
In the decades since Dick Roberts arrived in Elyria, Britain's natural landscape has changed dramatically.
One in six species is at risk of extinction, and 19% of monitored species have been lost in the last 30-40 years, making the UK one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth.
I invited Julia Jones, professor of conservation at Bangor University, to Cwm Idwal to ask her how much of a difference restoring this tiny plant could make.
In reality, this alone will not transform Britain's nature: nature conservation is incredibly complex and requires a range of different efforts, including protecting habitats from climate change, pollution and intensive land use.
But Prof Jones said the reintroduction would act as a banner and “a reminder of how much we have lost”.
High-profile plant reintroductions are rare, and most work goes into reintroducing animals – Britain's best-known are probably the beaver and the white-tailed eagle – fascinating species that generally get people more excited than the plants.
Some scientists talk about “plant blindness” – the idea that people don't see the plants around them as important living things, despite the services they provide for our ecosystems and the role they play in making medicines, but rather see them as wallpaper in the natural environment.
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Robbie says planting wild rose saxifrage was the highlight of his career.
Finally, a few days ago, the moment that came 10 years ago arrived.
Several people gathered in the rain at Elili's secret location, including ranger Reece Weldon-Roberts, who plans to keep a close eye on the plants, keeping an eye out for collectors.
“I hope that one day this will be commonplace and everyone who visits will be able to enjoy it,” he says.
For saxifrage observer Robbie Blackhall Miles, it's a big moment.
Can it survive outdoors after 60 years in cultivation?
He carries a crate of plants from his car.
It has changed a lot since I last saw it, with long stalks growing from the dense leaves and white, five-petaled flowers.
“I love these flowers, they're shining right at me,” Robbie says.
After crossing the river, Robbie crouches down and strips away the springy grass and soil. As he digs, he hits a rock. “It's OK. In Latin saxifrage means rock-breaker.”
A few minutes later, the little mountain jewel was back in the soil.
Robbie is visibly overcome with emotion: reintroducing something to his country, to the landscape he loves, is the highlight of his career.
“There's a wonderful word in Welsh called 'adferiad,' which means reparation or repair,” he continues. “I'm absolutely elated.”
Additional reporting by Gwyndaf Hughes