Dozens of rare plants have been reintroduced to the Vale of Glamorgan.

The globally threatened Shore Dock plant, which was previously extinct in the Dunraven Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC), has seen a resurgence through a collaborative project led by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

Shore Dock was first discovered in Dunraven Bay in 1934, and remained there until 1958. It was rediscovered in 1996, only to disappear again due to erosion and rock falls.

Within Wales, the plant is only found in coastal areas on Anglesey and in Pembrokeshire. It's mostly found in Devon and Cornwall in the rest of the UK. Pembrokeshire's Shore Dock population suffered a reduction, however, following storms in 2013 and 2014.

Efforts to restore this unique flora started in 2021. Suitable sites were selected, and 60 plug plants were grown by the National Botanic Garden of Wales from seeds collected from the Dunraven plants a few years ago. These seeds were transplanted on April 3 to the selected sites by specialists from the National Botanic Garden of Wales and NRW.

Ryan Paddock, conservation officer for NRW and project lead, said: "These protected conservation areas are the most important sites for Wales’ natural heritage and play a major part in our work to ensure nature’s recovery.

"We have a responsibility to conserve the favourable status of these designated habitats and species. Monitoring and reintroduction of species, where appropriate, is vital to achieve this."

He further explained the careful process involved: "The seed from the Shore Dock plants in Dunraven Bay were collected and banked before it disappeared.

"These were then used by the National Botanic Garden of Wales to grow new plants and to bolster the seed in storage."

Mr Paddock expects the Dunraven Bay population to be a crucial seed-source for recolonising the Bristol Channel dunes and beachhead.

His team logged the exact locations of each plant using GPS devices to allow for monitoring. Mr Paddock hopes: "to see these plants growing and establishing within these sites over the next few years and to spread to other areas within the conservation area without further intervention."

The reintroduction project required a feasibility study that Dr Phil Wilson, a species conservation expert in the UK, conducted. He inspected the length of the Southerndown Coast SSSI, locating 11 sites meeting some of the correct criteria necessary for Shore Dock survival, such as flushed, stable ground, and low competition from other vegetation. From this selection, two ideal locations were picked for the reintroduction.

This project forms part of a three-year programme, funded by the Welsh Government’s Nature Networks fund, which aims to tackle the nature emergency in Wales by increasing biodiversity, enhancing the condition of protected sites, and improving the resilience and connectivity of habitats and species.