Rare flower found at electricity substation site in Suffolk

A cluster of the Maiden Pink has been found on a site housing an electricity substation between Bury St Edmunds and Mildenhall

A "nationally scarce" flower has been found growing in the grounds of an electricity substation.

A patch of Maiden Pink (Dianthus deltoides) was found on the UK Power Network site on heathland near Icklingham, Suffolk.

The land is also a site of special scientific interest.

The plant is only found on a few areas in the north west of the county due to loss of The Brecks habitat, said Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT).

"This is a really significant discovery because this beautiful flower of dry, sandy soils is listed as nationally scarce and in Suffolk there are only a few sites in Breckland where it can still be found," said Dr Simone Bullion of the SWT.

The flower has been officially classified as "near threatened" by the county's botanical recorder.

Heather Patrick, environment adviser at UK Power Networks, said it had set a target of improving the biodiversity potential of 100 sites by up to 30%.

"This is the second nationally-scarce plant that we've identified at a substation in East Anglia," she said.

Maiden Pink grows on dry sandy fields and dry chalk or limestone grassland

The first was the Lesser Calamint at Belchamp St Paul, near Braintree in Essex.

"Our biodiversity management plan aims to maintain this very special habitat by mowing and removing cuttings, hand-pulling ragwort and removing self-sown silver birch trees," said Ms Patrick.

Maiden Pink flowers between June and September on dry sandy fields and dry chalk or limestone grassland.

It is a native species and only small populations exist, which are threatened by overgrazing, undergrazing and the encroachment of scrub, the SWT said.