The species is in decline elsewhere

Volunteers have discovered the northern-most population in the world of the three-lobed water-crowfoot growing on farmland near Amlwch.

The plant is losing ground in the rest of the world because grazing pastures are taking over heathland, where it usually thrives.

But a new habitat has been found on Anglesey by a group of volunteers involved in a project which aims to bring rare species "back from the brink".

The programme is organised by conservation charity Plantlife which has appointed Flora Guardians to take responsibility for recording and protecting rare species.

The new site near Amlwch is home to a large population of big, thriving plants Dr Trevor Dines, Plantlife

Sites where the small white-flowered plant grows stretches down to Morocco in the south and its strongholds are in Britain, north west France and northern Spain.

It was a team of these volunteers that made the new discovery on a recent trip to Amlwch.

Dr Trevor Dines, the charity's Wales officer who is based in Bangor, said: "This is a significant discovery because we'd usually expect to document losses of such rare species at the edge of their natural range, rather than find new populations.

"The new site near Amlwch is home to a large population of big, thriving plants which are setting a lot of seeds," he said.

Special scientific interest

Dr Dines, who was with the volunteers at the time, added it is an internationally rare plant which is found mainly around the coast.

The population was found when the team were exploring an existing population of the plant nearby at a site of special scientific interest.

They spotted the new population after noticing an adjacent field looked like it had a suitable wet environment.

The aim of the recent survey day, when the discovery was made, was to visit known sites where the three-lobed water-crowfoot occurs, count the number of plants and check on each population's health.

The plant has been seen in less than 30 places in Wales since 1996.

Dr Dines said: "It's great to make such an exciting discovery farther north than the population we were looking for.

"It's all due to the flora guardians.

"We'll be making sure that this rare plant stays a little less rare in the future!"