3Plantlife Annual Review 2015–20162 Foreword

I can scarcely believe how quickly the time has passed since I became your Chairman last year. I am so proud of the important work that Plantlife undertakes and of the skilled staff who make it happen. Our Board of Trustees

is first class, too – each passionate about plants and the natural environment. They have helped me fulfil the role of Chairman and I’d like to think we’ve had some fun along the way!

I’m an ecologist by training and have worked in the conservation and consultancy sector for 30 years. As Deputy Chairman of Natural England, I was privileged to have been able to make a contribution to nature conservation policy and protection nationally. On a personal level, we own part of the Muker Meadows SSSI which is now a SAC, valued on a European scale and bestowed with Coronation Meadow status. I adore meadows, so am especially proud to be Chairman of the organisation at the forefront of promoting their conservation.

But it is our membership, external funders, stakeholders, supporters and volunteers who are vital to the success of Plantlife. Without your support, we could not achieve the great things we are doing for plants and fungi. Our aims resonate with so many people. One of our key objectives is to increase membership year on year to significantly spread the message as to how important plants are to our daily lives, and especially to those of our children.

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I would like to thank all of you for the hard work that has gone into making Plantlife a success and increasing the number of wonderful conservation projects on the ground. These will leave a lasting legacy. Funding this ambition doesn’t get easier. As we enter a post-Brexit world, we will be less able to draw on the EU funds that have been, until now, so vitally important for us. Therefore, we need new, scaled-up ways of doing things, so that we can make a big difference to the countryside. A new form of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will also be needed to establish long-term contracts with farmers and landowners to deliver public goods and services for environmental gain – creating, restoring and managing large-scale habitats to increase the biodiversity we are all so passionate about.

Our collective memory of what our country would have looked like before 97% of meadows were destroyed may be fading fast. We have to turn around this catastrophic loss. And we need to address many other habitats too, such as woodland, coasts and heaths; plants underpin the beauty of nature – and are vital for our future.

I look forward to working with you all to achieve this.

David Hill

I adore meadows, so am especially proud to be Chairman of the organisation at the forefront of promoting their conservation

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Launched at Highgrove in June 2013, Coronation Meadows has brought to life the challenge laid down by HRH The Prince of Wales to create a meadow in every county. In September, HRH joined local school children to help sow the 90th meadow in London’s Green Park, named The Queen’s Meadow in honour of Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.

In just three years, this partnership project has:

5Plantlife Annual Review 2015–20164 Conservation successes 2015–2016

Partners: Cotswolds Conservation Board, Medway Valley Countryside Partnership, National Trust Wales, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, RSPB, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Somerset Wildlife Trust, Ulster Wildlife, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust

Funded by: Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Scottish Natural Heritage, Community Foundation of Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, The Steel Charitable Trust, Ernest Cook Trust, Percy Hedley 1990 Charitable Trust, Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust

Celebrated our second National Meadows Day with 100 events taking place across the country Restored or maintained 2,200 hectares of grasslandEngaged over 46,500 people. Delivered over 250 training courses to land managers, volunteers and staffAdvised and supported over 500 landownersWorked with 97 schools and 35 universities

Save Our Magnificent Meadows is the UK’s largest partnership project, transforming the fortunes of vanishing wildflower meadows, grasslands and wildlife.

Two years in, the partnership has:

Partners: The Wildlife Trusts, Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Funded by: Biffa Award, a gift from Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing, Natural Resources Wales, CWM Community & Environmental Fund, High Weald Landscape Trust, the Hamamelis Trust

Restored 90 meadows totalling around 400 hectaresTrained more than 70 land managers to care for their meadowsEngaged nearly 1,000 volunteers who gave 12,000 hours of timeGrown 50,000 meadow flowers

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7Plantlife Annual Review 2015–20166

The West Coast IPA is an internationally recognised hotspot known for its diversity of species. Our Secrets of the Celtic Rainforests project brings them to life and highlights their global importance.

Almost 1,200 people have engaged with the project, including families, teachers and conservation professionals.

Partners: National Trust for Scotland, John Muir Trust, Forestry Commission Scotland, Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre

Funded by: Heritage Lottery Fund, Scottish Natural Heritage, Mackintosh Foundation, Sir James Miller Edinburgh Trust, W M Mann Foundation, Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust, Horace & Helen Gillman Trusts, Hugh Fraser Foundation, Tay Charitable Trust, MacRobert Trust

Conservation successes 2015–2016

Our Make the Small Things Count project raised the profile of the lichens, mosses and liverworts of the internationally important Atlantic woodlands of the south-west. Based in and around Exmoor & the Quantocks IPA, Dartmoor IPA, and North Cornwall & Devon Coastal Woods IPA, we:

Engaged over 99,000 people Held 40 woodlands workshops for schoolsTrained 181 land managersHosted 125 events

Partners: Dartmoor National Park Authority, Exmoor National Park Authority, The Quantocks Hills AONB, North Devon Coast AONB, The British Lichen Society

Funded by: Heritage Lottery Fund, The British Lichen Society, The Quantock Hills AONB, North Devon Coast AONB, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Exmoor National Park Authority, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Ernest Cook Trust, The Elmgrant Trust, John Coates Charitable Trust, The Leggett Charitable Trust, The Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst Trust, The Blair Foundation, Schroder Charity Trust, The Campaign for National Parks – Park Protectors Award

For the last three years, Plantlife has been carrying out urgent conservation work on the Gower Important Plant Area (IPA) to save yellow whitlow grass (Draba aizoides), a rare wild flower that grows nowhere else in the UK. It, and a host of other threatened coastal plants, had been under serious threat from invasive non-native cotoneaster.

So far, nearly 10 hectares of cotoneaster have been controlledFlowers such as basil thyme (Clinopodium acinos) and yellow whitlow grass are bouncing back, restoring the landscape to its natural mosaic of limestone grassland and open rocky slopes.

Partners: Natural Resources Wales, City and Council of Swansea, the National Trust

Funded by: Biffa Award, Gower Society

Work is well underway to restore a series of dunes to their former glory with our Carmarthen Bay Dunes IPA project, after much of the area’s wildlife had been lost. Nearly 90% of the bare sand has been buried under a blanket of thick grass and scrub over the last 60 years.

80 hectares of invasive sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) removedThis will open up and re-mobilise the dune systems, and allow threatened species such as petalwort (Petalophyllum ralfsii) and seaside centaury (Centaurium littorale) to find their place and thrive.

Partners: Ministry of Defence, Carmarthenshire County Council, National Trust Wales, Natural Resources Wales, Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI)

Funded by: D S Smith Charitable Trust, Mrs Frances Crabtree Charitable Trust, Oakdale Trust, WREN’s FCC Biodiversity Action Fund

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Plantlife is also working to save fen orchid (Liparis loeselii) – one of the most threatened flowers in Europe. Found growing in only three sites in England, we are trialling pioneering conservation techniques with the ultimate goal of removing it from the Endangered List.

About 12,000 fen orchid were recorded this yearThis summer’s trial in Norfolk to test the flower’s ability to cope with displacement and our site selection protocols was a complete success and caught on film by BBC ‘Look East’. A full-blown re-introduction will be carried out in winter 2016/17.

Partners: Natural England, RSPB, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Broads National Park Authority

Funded by: Leslie Mary Carter Charitable Trust, John Jarrold Trust, Paul Bassham Charitable Trust, Pennycress Trust, Natural England, RSPB

9Plantlife Annual Review 2015–20168 Conservation successes 2015–2016

10 11Plantlife Annual Review 2015–2016At home...

Ranscombe Farm ReserveThe Ranscombe Wildlife Study Group spent more than 230 hours surveying wildlife at our flagship reserve in Kent. This was thanks to funding from WREN’s FCC Biodiversity Action fund through the Life on the Edges project

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Endangered field gromwell (Lithospermum arvense) appeared for the first time, adding to the breadth of threatened arable wild flowers found on the reserve

Record numbers of green-winged orchid (Orchis morio) spikes appeared at our Joan’s Hill Farm reserve this year

We restored an historic dew-pond at Deep Dale, thanks to funding from the Derbyshire Environmental Trust through the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund and the Peak District National Park Authority. Dew-ponds are a characteristic feature of the Peak District National Park, but fewer than half survive today

More than 200 plants of rough mallow (Malva setigera) were recorded, the highest count since we took over the site

At Caeau Tan y Bwlch, 5,000 greater butterfly orchids (Platanthera chlorantha) were counted, the highest ever since recording began in 1993

Following management advice from Plantlife, spreading bellflower (Campanula patula) has returned after an absence of several years to Silk Wood in Gloucestershire

157 plants of ground pine (Ajuga chamaepitys) were recorded – up from just three counted in 2012

The first records of yellowhammer and turtle dove for at least five years

118 frog orchids (Coeloglossum viride) were counted at Augill Pasture

Ranscombe proudly has the first Kent record of the rare Bryony Mining Bee

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1312 and abroad Plantlife Annual Review 2015–2016

2015–16 has been a busy year for our international team. Our partnership project in the Balkans and Turkey with the IUCN – Conserving wild plants and habitats for people in the South and East Mediterranean, or ‘IPAMed project’ – continues to improve the management of the Important Plant Areas found there and forms a crucial part of our co-ordinated efforts to reverse the threats facing the Mediterranean region.

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We led a successful workshop with 70 partners from across North Africa, the Middle East, Balkans, Turkey and European countries at the 1st Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week in Montenegro to develop future plans to support sustainable livelihoods for the communities who live and work in the region. This provided a great opportunity to bring our experience to bear with new partners across the region and beyond, including a new partnership with RBG Kew to identify and protect IPAs in the Tropics.

This work is all part of our contribution to deliver the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. With the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation, we’re working to ensure that the critical role plants and fungi play in driving the world’s ecosystems is fully understood. This includes contributing to the first State of the World’s Plants report with RBG Kew and winning agreement that Important Plant Areas should be fully recognised in a new global system to identify the key areas for biodiversity.

Funded by: MAVA Foundation

and abroad

Plantlife in numbers

In 2016, £3 million was spent saving and celebrating wild flowers. Here’s how we spent your money...

Income split

Activities cost split

Nature reserves 4%

Conservation projects 51%

Advice, policy and campaigns

18%

International projects 7%

Outreach and education 8%

Data and surveys 4%

Communication 8%

14 15Plantlife Annual Review 2015–2016Plantlife in numbers

Charitable trusts 3%

Appeals 3%

Legacies 16%

Membership 12%

Investment income 4%

Grants 55%

Nature reserves 2%

Other 5%

Thank you...

Patron: HRH The Prince of Wales Plantlife, 14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury SP1 1DX 01722 342730 enquiries@plantlife.org.uk

Plantlife Scotland, Stirling 01786 478509 scotland@plantlife.org.uk

Plantlife Cymru, Cardiff 02920 376193 cymru@plantlife.org.uk

www.plantlife.org.uk Plantlife is a charitable company limited by guarantee, company no. 3166339.Registered in England and Wales, charity no. 1059559. Registered in Scotland, charity no. SC038951

ISBN 978-1-910212-41-7 December 2016

designbyStudioAde.com Cover photograph: Meadow wildlife and flora ©Carolyne Charrington

Printed by Ripe Digital on chlorine-free, acid-free FSC Certified® paper

...to the following organisations and individuals who have generously contributed their time and money in the financial year ending 31.03.2016:

Grants• Biffa Award• Big Lottery Fund• Caithness & North Sutherland Fund• CWM Environmental Limited • Derbyshire Environmental Trust

through the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund

• EB Scotland• Forestry Commission England• Forestry Commission Scotland• GrantScape• Heritage Lottery Fund• Highland Council Landfill

Community Fund• Joint Nature Conservation

Committee• MAVA Foundation Pour La Nature• Natural England• Natural Resources Wales• Scottish Natural Heritage• SITA Trust• Veolia Environmental Trust• Welsh Government• WREN’s FCC Biodiversity

Action Fund

Charitable trusts• A & N Daniell Charitable Trust• Ashfield Trust• Ashley Family Foundation• Bannister Charitable Trust• Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust• Blair Foundation• Camelia Trust• Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust• Chapman Charitable Trust• Clark Bradbury Charitable Trust• Community Foundation, Tyne

& Wear and Northumberland• Craignish Trust• D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust• Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund• Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust• Emily Weircroft Charitable Trust

• Gunter Charitable Trust• Helen Jean Cope Charity• Herefordshire Community

Foundation• His Royal Highness The Prince

of Wales Duke of Cornwall• Ian Addison Charitable Foundation• Jack Patston Charitable Trust• Margaret Joan Tottle Trust No 2• Miss K M Harbinson’s

Charitable Trust• Miss M A Lascelles Charitable Trust• Nancy Bateman Charitable Trust• Naturesave Trust• Nineveh Charitable Trust• Norman & Evelyn Proffitt Trust• Pamela Matthews Charitable Trust• Robert O Curle Charitable Trust• Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust• Sir James Miller Edinburgh Trust• St Mary’s Charity• Tay Charitable Trust• The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation• The Mackintosh Foundation• The Steel Charitable Trust• W M Mann Foundation Corporate partners and sponsors• Cotswold Outdoor• Good Energy• Highgrove Enterprises• John Chambers Wildflower Seed• Knight Frank LLP• Maxxium UK• Nature’s Path Organic• Neal’s Yard Remedies• Summerdown Mint• Whitehead Monckton Corporate members• Continental Landscapes Ltd• Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens• Enchanted Plants Ltd• Formula Botanica• Tints of Nature• Wildflower Turf Ltd

Patrons• Mr & Mrs A Hoffmann• Mr & Mrs S Lyon

We are grateful to those who left us legacies this year. We would like to remember and say thank you to:• Beryl Foote• Cecile Kennedy• Cora Grace Lindley• David Laughton• Dulcie Beatrice Wright• Howard Lloyd Davies• Jean Petrie• John Sidney Sefton Beesley• Joyce Ellen Carrol• Juliet Anne Kay • Kenneth Valdemar Leslie• Margaret Dorothy Kirton• Margaret Dunglinson• Margaret Palmer• Margaret Anne Silcocks• Margaret Swan• Mary Cunlife Aspland• Mary Tribe• Olive Mellor• Peter Wilfrid James• Priscilla Ringham• Priscilla Ruth Cook• Rachael Anne Pitt• Shirley Adrene Gardner• Sheila Pamela Tisley• Stephanie Evelyn Thomson• Sylvia Amner• Sylvia Berrett

Many thanks also go to our loyal members and all our volunteers for their valued support