Overview
- The starved wood-sedge at Axbridge shifted from a bankside niche onto a public footpath, exposing the plants to trampling risk.
- The Species Recovery Trust extracted the specimens and transferred them to a specialist nursery where propagation by dividing clumps is underway.
- Propagated plants are slated to recolonise the Somerset site, with additional stock intended to establish two new populations in the Mendip Hills National Landscape.
- The critically endangered sedge is restricted to just two native UK sites after long-term losses linked to habitat fragmentation.
- The Mendip Hills National Landscape team funded the rescue, aligning with the trust’s goal to pull 50 UK species back from the brink by 2050.