Numbers of one of Scotland’s rarest plants have more than trebled on the craggy slopes of Dumyat in the Ochil Hills, a new survey has found. Around 10,000 flowering stems of sticky catchfly were counted by volunteers during a three-day survey on crags south of the summit this summer. According to NatureScot, the numbers are up from around 3,000 flowering stems in 2013 and represent at least of fifth of the known British population.
Sticky catchfly is a nationally rare species with fewer than 18 populations scattered across Britain. The plant has a long-recorded history in Scotland and is said to have been admired by James VI on the crags of Arthur’s Seat. It has sadly declined and disappeared from many of its former locations, with overgrazing and gorse encroachment pushing surviving colonies onto inaccessible cliff faces.
READ MORE: Beavers to return to Cairngorms National Park after absence of 400 years The crags and screes of the Ochils remain the national stronghold for the plant, which can be identified by its showy pink flowers and sticky stem that prevents herbivorous insects such as aphids from climbing up. It is thought that these trapped insects act as fertiliser for the roots, falling to the ground when the flowers die back. The survey was led and coordinated by the Future Forest Company (FFC) on its land at Dumyat in collaboration with NatureScot, local naturalists, the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), TCV Scotland, the National Trust for Scotl.