Saving the Rare Plants of Eryri
Open Country

Saving the Rare Plants of Eryri

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 10, 202623 min

Martha Kearney meets the people protecting and restoring rare arctic-alpine plants in Eryri, also know as Snowdonia. Robbie Blackhall-Miles is a conservation horticulturist working for the charity Plantlife. He shows Martha his secret nursery for rare plants where he's been propagating species such as the previously extinct rosy saxifrage, in preparation for reintroducing them to the mountains. Martha and Robbie travel to the valley of Nant Ffrancon where work has been happening in collaboration with farmers to change grazing practices, in order to help the arctic-alpine plants survive. This work has been happening as a part of...

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secret is to protect those very rare valuable plants. And I'm going to be finding out today

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Robbie Blackhall Miles, who you've just heard, is from the charity Plant Life, and you're a man on

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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A1 27%A2 37%B1 19%B2 14%C1 3%
  • 83% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 159 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 72 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hi Martha. So I've brought you somewhere today that I don't bring many people. I'm bringing you to see my nursery. It's a place where I grow some of not just the rarest plants in Britain, but actually some of the rarest plants in the world. I try and keep it secret here and I'm

1:08

very lucky that I've got top-notch security on the site, a huge wall and fences that no one would be able to climb over. Well thank you for allowing me to come here to this top secret location, deep in O'Rory, also known as Snowdonia. And the reason this place is being kept so secret is to protect those very rare valuable plants. And I'm going to be finding out today

1:36

for Open Country how they're being reintroduced into this stunning mountain landscape. Robbie Blackhall Miles, who you've just heard, is from the charity Plant Life, and you're a man on mission aren't you? I certainly am. These things are part of the cultural heritage of my home and I can't see them go extinct so I've been very fortunate to have funding through the Nataram

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