The County Council’s Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, along with the RSPB and Natural England (formerly English Nature), has been working on a Species Recovery Programme to introduce the rare species to Rye Harbour after it was last recorded in Dungeness in 1980.
Before the species went extinct in Britain, seed was collected and stored in a herbarium. Work began in 1992 to reintroduce the plant at Dungeness, with limited success. In 2000, it was decided to introduce it to new areas and Rye Harbour reserve was selected.
This year 1,035 plants have been recorded in Rye Harbour, the first time they have reached four figures. This is a significant increase on the previous year when 417 plants were recorded in the area. There has also been a modest increase in the number of plants at other sites, including RSPB’s Dungeness reserve and a location in Northiam.
Barry Yates, Reserve Manager at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, said, "This work has brought back a plant which used to grow in this county but had been lost. Brian Banks of Swift Ecology has been studying the land at Rye Harbour fairly intensively over the past four years, visiting the shingle each month, marking the plants and, following their survival from seedling to flower over the year.
"The big discovery has been the significance of rabbit grazing, which is also affecting other rare plant species at Rye Harbour. Since a rabbit proof fence was put around plants numbers have increased from 10 plants four years ago to 1,035 this year.
"The project has shown how important it is to understand the ecology of species if they are to be effectively conserved and it’s been a real success."
Jane Sears, RSPB’s Biodiversity Projects Officer, said: "Re-introductions need a lot of time and effort but with patience and a good knowledge-base we can make a big difference in saving species that would otherwise be lost. The challenge now is to get the plant to spread into new areas."
Stinking Hawk’s-beard, Crepis foetida, resembles a dandelion, the main differences being that Hawk’s-beards have multiple flowers per plant as well as branching stems. Stinking Hawk’s-beard has a characteristic smell resembling bitter almonds. It is known to have grown along the south coast of England, with old records of the plant from around Camber Castle about 100 years ago.
Further information
The Species Recovery Programme was aimed at a range of rare species that were protected by law. The Stinking Hawk’s-beard was one of the first species to benefit from the programme.
Work has been funded with money from Natural England and the RSPB. Rye Harbour Nature Reserve has funded the rabbit fencing at Rye Harbour. The project has cost between £1,000 and £2,000 each year to fund ecological research, rear the young plants and monitor their survival.
Reference:
2442
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