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Glen Affric playing key role in recovery of Britain's rarest fern

News imageForestry and Land Scotland A green fern in the foreground surrounded by four grey rocks. Yellow and green tinged grass is present around the rocks, above brown soil. Forestry and Land Scotland
The rare mountain fern almost became extinct due to a Victorian craze for collecting the plants

A Highland glen is playing a key role in saving one of Britain's rarest ferns.

About 250 oblong woodsia have been planted on a stony slope in Glen Affric, a large area of woodlands and lochs near Cannich.

The small mountain fern was almost wiped out by commercial collectors in the late 1840s, following a Victorian craze for the plants.

Staff from Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RSGE) have carried out the conservation work.

The collaboration forms part of RSGE's Scottish plant recovery project, which aims to increase the numbers and distribution of 10 threatened native species.

FLS forester Sam Brown said: "It would be fantastic to see them establishing and self-regenerating and once more growing across Scotland after being on the brink of extinction."

The RSGE has propagated and bulked up thousands of ferns in its botanical garden's nursery, before planting them at selected sites across the country.

Glen Affric has already been chosen as a suitable location for other species, including wych elm around the Old Ent of Glen Affric, and wild apple.

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