CELEBRATED dale botanist Dr Margaret Bradshaw is the star of a new short documentary about the area’s rare flowers.
An Eye For Plants, by Bristol director Ross Harrison, looks at “plant blindness” in which people overlook and undervalue the flora around them.
The film formed part of the Kendal Mountain Festival programme late last month, where Dr Bradshaw was interviewed about her Teesdale Special Flora Trust.
Filming took place in the spring, just as the blue gentians were blossoming in the upper dale. Dr Bradshaw said: “He [Ross Harrison] is a charming man.
“I’ve seen a few of his short films – they are good. He did a lot of homework and everyone thinks he has done a good little film and I was pleased with it.”
The botanist’s trust was formed in 2017 to survey the plants of the upper dale and to work towards species recovery.
She said some progress has been made in the past ten years.
Dr Bradshaw added: “Natural England started mowing the limestone grassland, as was suggested to them by the botany group, because the vegetation had got too tall and was killing the rare flowers.
“They have extended the area that they mow and now the sheep are grazing it, it is short and it pleases me because it allows the plants to thrive.
“But the meadows should not be overgrazed in the winter – overgrazing leads to undesirable plants that we call weeds such as thistles, docks and daisies. Daisies shouldn’t be appearing in pure grassland.”
However, the botanist said dandelions have been integral to grasslands for centuries and are very useful as they provide both nectar and pollen early in the year for insects, particularly bumble bees which are active early on compared to other pollinators.
On a less positive note Dr Bradshaw noted that periods of very cold weather and dry spells over the past two years have put the plants under extreme conditions.
Dr Bradshaw said: “Last year there was very poor flowering of most of them.”
People can watch the short documentary by visiting you tube.com/watch?v=iBe7eep0czM.
