Hope for rare woodland flower as Scottish conservation project is roaring success in the Cairngorms National Park

The rare and illusive One-flowered Wintergreen Moneses uniflora, a small flowering plant found in pine woodlands, has defied expectations of Plantlife Scotland and partners in the UK’s first ever project to restore the species.

One-flowered Wintergreen has seen a 70% survival success rate following a translocation (movement of a species from one location to another) from a secure population of the species in Roseisle Forest and Old Grantown Wood to RSPB Abernethy, led by Plantlife Scotland.

The flower has suffered a sharp decline globally and it is estimated that in the last 50 years over half of the UK population has been lost, with only two known remaining patches in the Cairngorms National Park and as few as just seven populations in the whole country.