UK conservation: Special project to save flowers of the Cairngorms

Image source, Getty Images

Conservationists are on a mission to save the rare plants of the Cairngorms.

The Cairngorms are a mountain range and national park in the eastern Highlands of Scotland and it's hoped volunteers will work alongside conservationists to protect the plants there, and their habitats, as well as see how climate change and pollution are affecting them.

Experts warn the unique wildflowers of the Cairngorms are at risk from habitat loss - meaning they won't have the right types of places to live in - as well as .

The special project will focus on rare species such as the one-flowered wintergreen and the twinflower, which will be moved to areas they can grow better in.

Image source, Plantlife/PA

Image caption, The team want to move twinflowers like these to areas that they'll grow better in

There will also be work to restore grasslands and wildflower meadows as well as focus on arctic alpine plants such as cloudberry, reindeer lichen and bearberry, which usually shelter in snow-beds but have nowhere to go as climate change warms the UK.

Image source, Alistair Whyte/Plantlife/PA

Image caption, The team want to protect plants like this waxcup

Iain Macdonald from Scottish National Heritage, who are supporting the project, said: "The Cairngorms are home to some of our most rare and beautiful plants, and we know that people in the area care a great deal about these special species."

Image source, Plantlife/PA

Image caption, The Cairngorms is the UK's largest national park