Margaret’s century among the Teesdale wildflowers
The 98-year-old horse-riding botanist committed to saving rare plants
The Teesdale violet, thyme, sea plantain, spring gentian and tormentil all grow side by side on Widdybank Fell, Teesdale. Nowhere else in Britain do all these wild flowers grow together. The ‘Teesdale assemblage’ is a mixture of alpine-arctic flowers and southern European species.
This part of the northern England uplands, less than an hour from Barnard Castle seems an empty, exposed landscape. It is not. Deep in the undergrowth, it hides botanical treasure – some of the rarest plants in Britain, whose ancestors have been here for more than 10,000 years, since the last Ice Age.
Botanist Dr Margaret Bradshaw has made it her life’s mission to save them.
Dr Margaret Bradshaw near her home in Teesdale
Margaret has spent most of her life studying and protecting plants. She started discovering and recording rare plants in Teesdale in the early 1950s. Her vast data set, gathered across her lifespan, is showing these unique plants are in decline.
Teesdale - where the wild flowers grow
Widespread in the late-glacial period and now restricted to Upper Teesdale, the populations of these wild flowers have greatly reduced in the last 50 years. Few of them remain and approximately 28 species may now face extinction. On Widdybank Fell some have virtually disappeared – dwarf milkwort is down by 98%, and the hoary whitlow-grass is down by almost 100%. There is now just one recorded plant.
Teesdale, a wide U-shaped glacial valley, is the only place in the world for the subspecies hoary rock-rose (Helianthemum oelandicum subsp. levigatum) and the only place in the UK for Teesdale sandwort (Sabulina stricta) and spring gentian (Gentiana verna). It’s almost the only location in the UK for large-toothed lady’s mantle (Alchemilla subcrenata).
Alchemilla subcrenata in a meadow in Upper Teesdale, near where it was first found
It is the only location in England for Scottish asphodel (Tofieldia pulsilla), hoary rock-rose (Helianthemum oelandicum), alpine forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris), and sheathed sedge (Carex vaginata). These do also appear in Scotland.
Other rare species include horseshoe vetch, rare spring-sedge, Teesdale violet, the
Starting out in botany
Born in 1926 on a farm in East Yorkshire, Margaret's first memories were of bogbean and distinctively scented water mint. At school she was given a buttercup to draw and there her passion began.
After world war II she graduated from Leeds University and taught Botany and Zoology at a Bishop Auckland School.
In 1954 she undertook a Doctorate in Botany on Alchemilla, having researched and mapped Alchemilla vulgaris in Durham and Weardale. She discovered A. subcrenata growing in Upper Teesdale, which was the first record of this species in Britain.
Fighting to save the wildflowers
In the late 1960s, people protested about the construction of the planned Cow Green Reservoir in Teesdale. The case was lost and the reservoir was built, but £100,000 was assigned for research into plants on Widdybank Fell. Margaret organised volunteers to map the distribution of the rare species. Due to the findings, The Moor House – Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve was extended to include the species rich area of County Durham, known as VC 66.
“Each summer in the 1970s I organised volunteers to record the plants. It took us five years to go from one end of the sugar-limestone grassland to the other,” she said.
This baseline record was then able to be used by botanist John O'Reily in 2019 to compare the changes.
A comparison of 19 of the “special” plants showed that plants had decreased substantially, on average by 54%. Some have nearly disappeared from Widdybank Fell. Dwarf milkwort was down by 98%, and the hoary whitlow-grass, down by almost 100%. There is now just one recorded plant on that Fell.
“Even gentian, the iconic species for the dale, had dropped by over 50%, and the overall coverage of mountain everlasting, not the individual plants, had dropped by over 90%, which surprised me as it was very common,” said Margaret.
Five years ago, at 93, she set up The Teesdale Special Flora Research and Conservation Trust to record the rare plants and find people to continue her work in the future.
Margaret with the Wild Flower Society, including Botanist Lizzie Maddison, on species-rich limestone grassland
Bringing back sheep grazing
She believes one of the reasons for the decline may be the reduction of sheep on Widdybank Fell, to less than half than the previous numbers in the 1990s, when the uplands were generally believed to be “overgrazed”, but this was not so on this Fell. Fewer sheep leads to under-grazing and the longer grass that overshadows the rare flowers takes away the light they need to grow.
“In 2013 I pressurised Natural England to mow the vegetation as the sheep would not eat the long grass. They started with an Allen scythe, raking off and removing the mowings in a trial area. Although this was irregular at first, larger areas have been mown each year, and the tenant famer has been encouraged to increase his flock. This year when I walked over in the late summer, it struck me that the feel of the vegetation under my feet was back where it used to be in the 1980s when the special flora was thriving. I told the farmer this looked good.
As a result of her findings and her work with farmers and Natural England, sheep numbers are increasing and the timing of grazing is being carefully managed. This has led to the partial recovery of some plants.
However Margaret feels there's still more to be done.
A lasting legacy
At 95 Margaret did a 55-mile (88km) trek on horseback in weekly stages, raising almost £10,000 for the The Teesdale Special Flora Research and Conservation Trust. Currently (February 2024), at the age of 98, she is walking 55 miles across the region, one mile a day. By the end of the first month she had completed 30 miles and received £2,000 towards conservation.
Margaret riding a Dales pony on to Cronkley Fell
Margaret before her ‘Trek for Teesdale Flora’, 55 mile hike, January 2024
Margaret is still recording the plants and says even at the age of 98, she has a lot of work to do.
A call for action
Margaret feels anyone can play their part in preserving plants but she believes getting people to care about plants is essential. She feels most people don't even notice plants.
“People need to support their local conservation. Get involved in your local group. The ideas our local group in Teesdale have put to Natural England have helped them to put in place measures to protect the landscape. Write to your MP and to the government. Help your local committee by volunteering to do recording for them.”
