Bluebell under threat from Spanish armada

SCOTLAND’S native bluebells are being killed off by Spanish varieties and need the help of gardeners to survive, according to wildflower experts.

Scottish Natural Heritage is calling for support in controlling the spread of the Spanish bluebell, which has light-blue flowers and little scent.

It has been breeding with Scotland’s native variety, which is a deep violet blue and has a strong, sweet scent. It is estimated that a third of all bluebells in the UK are either the Spanish or hybrid varieties.

As part of Scottish Biodiversity Week, members of the public are being asked to try to control the spread of the Spanish bluebell. They can help to manage woodlands to encourage the native variety to thrive and they can control the Spanish bluebells in their own gardens to allow the native bluebells to live there.

Robin Payne, the wildflower adviser at Scottish Natural Heritage, said: “If people have a garden that is close to a wild population and they know that the plants that they have in their garden are hybrid or Spanish bluebells, they should consider controlling those or replacing them with the wild native bluebells.” One way to help out is to get involved in a Flora Guardians scheme – a Plantlife initiative that aims to get people all over the country trained and involved in looking after local plants and monitoring invasive species.

As well as being taken over by Spanish bluebells, our native variety is under threat from climate change. Trees are coming into leaf earlier in the spring and as a result wildflowers including bluebells have less access to sunlight, according to Mr Payne.

“If the canopy closes over earlier each year, then there’s less of that spring light available for these woodland plants,” he said.

Mr Payne said it was important that action was taken to protect our native bluebells, as the country is a global stronghold for the species.

“The British Isles are special for bluebells. About 50 per cent of the world population of bluebells are in Britain,” he said.

“The sight of woodland carpeted with blue is a British spectacle in the same way as heather moor carpeted with purple.”

The Spanish bluebell was introduced to British gardens in the 17th century and quickly became a popular plant. It started spreading across the countryside over the past 100 years and easily cross-breeds with the native variety to create a hybrid.

The native bluebell is also being threatened by the invasion of other non-native plants, such as rhododendron ponticum – a large shrub common in parks and gardens that has spread into woodland, where it has become a pest species.

The native bluebell is on Scottish Natural Heritage’s Species Action Framework, as needing conservation action. It has suffered a 33 per cent decline across Britain between 1964 and 2002 and remains under threat.

In 2003 it was voted Britain’s favourite wildflower in a survey by Plantlife.

MORE INFO

FROM a photography competition to a quiz and a chance to spend evenings spotting badgers, Scottish Biodiversity Week has more than 100 events on offer.

It has been organised by Scottish Natural Heritage, and the week’s highlights range from bluebell workshops to a walk along giant millipede tracks. There will be evening badger walks in a secret location on Loch Ness shore between today and tomorrow.

On Skye there is the chance to learn about limestone today, while on Saturday you can walk along giant millipede tracks in Fife.

There will be a bird-watching walk to see hen harriers in Renfrewshire, and events at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh include a bluebell workshop and a native-tree walk.

There is also the chance to help plant the rare native sea pea on the sand dunes at Broughty Ferry near Dundee.

For more information visit www.snh. org.uk/biodiversityweek