98-year-old botanist fights to save Britain's rarest flowers

The botanist, who turned 98 years old this month, is a guardian of endangered plants which Teesdale has been home to for more than 10,000 years. 

Her unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship  means she has spent more than six decades studying the unique arctic-alpine flora at risk because of climate change, pollution and a lack of grazing sheep.

Margaret’s mission is to ensure the fragmented flowers under threat are identified and conserved for future generations.

She said: “We’ve got various buildings in the country – Stonehenge, Durham Cathedral, and others; if they were crumbling away, there would be groups and money helping stop it, because people would say: ‘We can’t let this happen.’ These flowers’ communities are much, much older, and in some respects they are more beautiful.”

The “Teesdale Assemblage” of rare plants is considered to have survived continuously since shortly after the last Ice Age. It includes “’southern” species at the northern limit of their range.

Two of the most important places for rare plants in Teesdale are Widdybank Fell and Cronkley Fell.

A special type of rock, “sugar limestone” reaches the surface on these two fells, unlike elsewhere in Britain. 

Dry grassland and wet flushed habitats there support several of the rare species including the Teesdale violet, thyme flower, sea plantain and the beautiful blue spring gentian.

But all 19 rare species on parts of Widdybank Fell have suffered large declines – some by 50 per cent.

These species are now on average present in fewer than half of the areas they occurred in 45 years ago, a 2019 study found.

Margaret, a keen horse rider, said: “Teesdale is the only place in Britain where you get Southern and Arctic species together. The flora has definitely gradually declined.”

Margaret, who grew up in an East Yorkshire farming family, trained as a teacher initially and then went on to do a PhD in botany at Durham University.

She began exploring Upper Teesdale from her base in Bishop Auckland in the early 1950s, cycling and walking for miles to search for the rare plants.

When the Express visited her at her home in Eggleston, Margaret effortlessly swung her hips over a tall fence while chatting about the land management issues threatening the species.

The botanical treasures need more sheep grazing on the fells as longer grass removes sunlight from the delicate species which need an abundance of light to grow.

The number of sheep on the fells had been reduced by half by 2000, as the uplands were generally believed to be “overgrazed”.

Margaret says some areas are “sheepwrecked” but a drop in the sheep population has been “disastrous”

She said: “There have been changes in the number of sheep in the fell. If you’re a farmer, you don’t reduce your flock by more than 50 per cent. This was disastrous for the rare plants, disastrous.”

“The rare plants are what we call light demanders so the tall grass which grew when the sheep numbers were reduced where the rare plants which were now shaded. They couldn’t survive and they decreased.”

To mark her birthday, Margaret has embarked on a fundraising trek around her village.

She plans to cover 55 miles – the equivalent of the circumference of the Teesdale special flora survey area – by doing a “a slow walk on fine days”.

The funds raised will go towards a meticulous search of the area to identify what is growing, missing and testing conservation methods.

Surveys and conservation trials will provide vital data to guide decisions on the way the land is managed, for example decisions on grazing and cutting practices.

It will also help researchers understand the effects of climate change on this unique habitat. 

Margaret said: “Teesdale flora is very special. It should be treasured. I would love to see the local people realising they’ve got something very special here.

“We can’t conserve these things without support.”