LOST areas of blooming wildflowers are being searched for in the North Pennines.

The North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership is scouring the area for havens of flower-rich vegetation.

These small, but vital, habitats are more often found on steep-sided banks or in wet, inaccessible corners of fields.

The AONB Partnership’s Nectarworks project officer, Ruth Starr-Keddle, is visiting and surveying flower-rich grasslands during June and July each year.

She is keen to learn about new sites so that she can add them to her survey list.

Ms Starr-Keddle said: “I get very excited at this time of year.

“I have already surveyed some incredibly flower-rich places and never know what I am going to find. “We are keen to know where these places are so that they can be properly surveyed and mapped.”

She said the wildflower areas are important as they support many small creatures, such as grasshoppers, butterflies and bumblebees.

Ms Starr-Keddle said: “It’s quite hard work climbing up and down some of the sites I visit but every step is worth it if we can improve the recognition of these places and start to see the populations of the plants increasing.”

If you know of a wildflower-rich bank or other flowery place, contact Ms Starr-Keddle on 01388 -528801 or ruth@northpenninesaonb.org.uk.