Insect - eating plant escapes sticky end

RSPB staff and volunteers, working with United Utilities staff, have

saved a clump of the insect-eating sundews, right, that faced being destroyed when work on the dam at Dovestone reservoir took place.

The sundew, which is very rare in the area, supplements the meagre nutrients it gets from growing on peaty soils by catching and absorbing insects. It has sticky globules on its leaves, which attract small flies that get stuck. The leaf then curls round the unlucky insect and the plant slowly digests it.

Wildlife warden Ed Lawrance said: "It was very surprising to find a plant like this growing in a bye- wash channel."