Dedication keeps junipers in good spirits

RARE juniper shrubs which may have disappeared from the North York Moors forever are enjoying a remarkable new lease of life because of the efforts of a green-fingered former wildlife ranger.

The tree, whose berries are used to flavour gin, had become the region's rarest by the 1990s in a decline that has baffled Forestry Commission experts. But 15 years ago, former wildlife ranger from Pickering Charles Critchley, took cuttings from four wizened old bushes in Cropton and propagated them in his garden before planting them out in the wild. Now nearly 1,000 shrubs have taken root in Cropton Forest and Bumble Wood, some reaching 2m tall. The juniper has declined possibly because of climate change and altered patterns of land management.