Chickweed willowherb in south Northumberland

Chickweed willowherb Epilobium alsinifolium is one of our montane willowherbs that is scattered in the North pennines, the Lake District, The Cheviots, the southern Scittish uplands and North Wales, as well of course as the Scottish Highlands. See the distribution map from the BSBI website at http://www.bsbimaps.org.uk/atlas/map_page.php?spid=690.0&sppname=Epilobium alsinifolium&commname=Chickweed Willowherb

Our county recorder John Richards (who is also an expert on alpine plants), took this photo recently at the only site for this plant in south Northumberland.
John says that out of 500 plants present in the flush this was the only one that was flowering! So it would be easy to overlook it if you were not an expert. The previous county recorder George Swam found the plant at this site in 1969 and last recorded it there in 1991. John was revisiting the site to check out the population as part of a series of surveys he and others are doing to check on populations of Northumberland's most rare and special plants.

You can see an account of all of the county's rare plants at http://botanicalkeys.co.uk/northumbria/rpr.asp

John