A Summer Visit to Wild Ingleborough’s Plant Nursery 

The Yorkshire Dales looked especially beautiful on a hot day in June when I visited Wild Ingleborough’s upland plant nursery. I’d planned to come last year but had to cancel due to work—so I made sure to reschedule for early summer, the best time to see wildflowers in full bloom.

As I arrived, Liz Coates, Wild Ingleborough Project Officer, waved a warm welcome from across the meadows. Stepping out of the car, I heard a buzzard call overhead and spotted it circling high above. A pied wagtail perched on a drystone wall eyed me curiously. I thought I heard a cuckoo too. I couldn’t help but think of the U2 song “It’s a Beautiful Day!” 

As she made me a coffee, Liz explained that a key component to the Wild Ingleborough Project is to focus on nature recovery - increasing tree and scrub cover, allowing for natural colonisation to occur, and to improve the biodiversity and health of the grasslands that were previously more intensively managed. I was impressed to hear that the Ingleborough massif contains 62 plant species that are only found in upland and montane habitats, 22 of which are listed as critical, endangered or vulnerable – and for several of them, Ingleborough is one of the only places in the country they are found. The goal of the upland plant nursery is to help bolster these fragmented populations and spread them to different areas around Ingleborough, restoring the diversity this area was once famous for. 

My visit was to show me how they go about achieving this, from collecting seeds to grow-on; for everything from montane trees like willows and rock whitebeam, to limestone lovers like ferns and baneberry, to more delicate meadow plants like globeflowers, grass-of Parnassus and melancholy thistle. 

Coffee in hand, we headed over to the barn where volunteers Jeanne and Ben were busy potting seedlings in the shade, their work area overlooked a stunning wildflower meadow. Liz pointed out species like melancholy thistle, wood cranesbill, betony, globeflowers—and much more than I could possibly take in!  

I chatted first with Jeanne, who has volunteered since the nursery began three years ago. In winter, she explained that she helps with tree planting and dry stone walling – a critically important task and one I’ve blogged about in the past. I was especially impressed to learn that Jeanne travels in from York by train to Ribblehead Station from where it is just a 15-minute walk through the reserve to the nursery. 

Ben, the second volunteer, started volunteering with Wild Ingleborough six months ago. He  too began with tree planting and now enjoys volunteering regularly in the nursery.

No day is the same for the volunteers. Today, Jeanne and Ben told me that they would be planting several hundred plug plants! Liz explained that these young wildflowers would go on to support a wide range of insects and birds. Looking around I saw the blackbirds and swallows nesting in the barns roof. Then the cuckoo I’d heard earlier swooped past and this was really exiting as it was only the second one I’d ever seen – despite often hearing their calls. 

Liz took me through the meadow to explore more of the nursery, pointing out more wildflowers as we went—eyebright, common bistort, yellow rattle, sheep’s sorrel, stitchwort, and oxeye daisy - to name a few...

The nursery itself is fenced to exclude deer, sheep, and rabbits. It has propagation boxes, each labelled with a species and rows of modules (the term for individual containers for growing a single seedling or young plants) which volunteers have filled with seedlings, potted-on from the propagation boxes. It also had raised beds, planted to show examples of the species they are growing; to act as seed sources themselves and to give an indication of when each species is going to be seeded in the wild. 

Liz explained that it is really important to get their timing right to collect the ripe seeds. Although I knew seeds ripen and disperse at different times, I hadn’t thought about how much that affects collection and storage. 

Liz explained that the team follows the Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank protocols. This means collecting no more than 20% of seeds when there are fewer than 50 plants, and fewer still if numbers are lower to ensure they are not adversely affecting the ability of the population to regenerate and spread naturally. As an example, she showed me a thriving patch of the incredibly rare purple spiked speedwell. Originally, there were around 50 in a single cliffside location on Ingleborough, just one of a handful of known sites in Yorkshire. With the relevant permissions and a “schedule 8” licence (needed to collect and grow the seeds of these rare plants), the seeds were collected by abseiling! Since then, over 75 young plants have been planted in new locations, with many more growing in the nursery for future seed collection. 

We admired the young trees being grown on site, including rock whitebeam, eared willow, and creeping willow. Liz explained that these will likely stay in the nursery for several years before being planted out. 

Back in the barn, Dwayne Martindale and Jo Carr, both Wild Ingleborough Project Assistants, had just returned from collecting willow tree seeds. Jo was carefully separating the tiny seeds from their catkins she explained that willow seeds must be planted within 24 hours of ripening if they are to germinate successfully. Without hesitation, Jeanne and Ben offered to pause their potting-up work and get planting willow seeds so that the trees could have the best possible start. 

Liz explained that the team are growing montane species of willows, currently found in small amounts on site. These are species particularly adapted to grow at altitude and withstand the harsh elements. Once established they will provide a wide diversity of ecological niches and support a range of animals (including small mammals, invertebrates and birds) as well as shelter for other plants, more commonly associated with ungrazed mountain ledges, giving them the potential to flower and set seed.

Over lunch in the meadow, Liz told us that most of the work at Wild Ingleborough is done by volunteers. While some, like Jeanne and Ben, come regularly; others drop in for a day or join as part of team-building events and all are welcome. Jeanne said she couldn’t recommend volunteering with Wild Ingleborough highly enough, she remembered families volunteering together while on holiday and said how much they had enjoyed it.  Ben added that he’d learned a lot through hands-on experience and praised the way volunteers are supported, with events like the annual volunteers’ day to show-off the impact of their work on the reserve and in the nursery. 

In U2’s words, it really had been a beautiful day. Volunteering with Wild Ingleborough is clearly worthwhile, interesting and very enjoyable too.

Find out how you can get involved or donate to our Wild Ingleborough Project here