Saving the Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem

Andy Simons

For ten years Andrew Simons has spent lots of his free time working as a volunteer with Forestry England at Top Lodge, Fineshade.

In this blog post he explains how he became aware of a rare and precious plant growing in a corner of the woodland and how he took the initiative to try to help protect it

I joined Forestry England (FE) as a volunteer in March 2016, but had never heard of the Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem until 2019 when I was shown a picture of one and told that there are some growing in a corner of Fineshade Wood. At the time I was trying to learn the names of trees and butterflies, but was already thinking I should include flowers as well. It wasn’t until 2022 that I saw them growing because I had been always looking for them too late. I found five and was immediately struck by their fragile beauty – made all the more impressive by the fact that they had come into flower in the freezing cold of late February.

I started to do some research and found that the Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem or Gagea lutea is a very unusual woodland plant. It is nationally scarce and is only found in one or two of the woodlands of North Northamptonshire. It is Red listed – a species of real conservation concern. 

It is an odd little plant, growing from a small bulb. It grows a single leaf in mid-late January that looks like grass, but has three ridges down the underside, one central, one near each edge. Only around 20% flower each year - producing a single flower spike that usually carries one small leaf and a cluster of 1-7 flowers. By the end of March it has usually died down completely leaving nothing visible.  Apparently it needs to be damp while growing, but will grow in full sun or light shade. It can easily be swamped by other things so will generally only grow where trees, scrub or something else inhibits growth of other plants.

In the winter of 2022-2023, with Ash dieback disease at its height, FE decided that the Ash trees alongside all the well-used trails had to be removed because they may have become dangerous. Some care was taken to avoid destroying the Yellow Stars, but it did affect the whole of the area where the stars are in that a lot of brash (branches and other debris) was left behind.

In recent years I’ve come to realise just how much of nature we have lost since my childhood in the 1960’s and 70’s, so I now firmly believe that it is very important to ensure that we try to retain what little we have left. With this mind, I spoke to Cheryl (who managed us volunteers at the time) and she immediately allowed me to start clearing the area of debris with the help of two other volunteers (Annabelle and Hilary). It was slow work and we had only managed to clear about a fifth of the area when Cheryl organised a full work party on the 22nd February to clear the rest.

Brian Laney, the volunteer county plant recorder came to help and with his expert eye he found more than 50 Yellow Star plants (none in flower) spread across most of the area. He also showed me how to identify them when they weren’t in flower. But very sadly as far as I’m aware, none flowered that year.

By December 2023 it was clear that the stars would be overwhelmed by other growth (mainly bramble) now the sheltering ash and hazel etc were gone, so Cheryl and I used shears to mow two small patches where most of the flowering stars had been seen. That year I found 23 flowering between late February and mid March 2024.

It wasn’t until Jan 19^th 2025 that we were able to mow an area again. Annabelle and I managed the same patches as last time and added a new patch towards the middle of the area. It was really a bit late to do this as the following day I found some leaves of stars already growing.  By mid March that year 19 stars had flowered. However, all but one vanished within days - probably eaten by deer.

In mid December Annabelle, Hilary and I mowed three new patches spread across the area. The patches we had mown previously weren’t touched as I felt they weren’t overgrown enough to need it and the extra vegetation might help to hide the stars from the attentions of deer.

In 2026, the first Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem flower wasn’t seen until 1st of March, but by the 14^th  no less than 28 had flowered. Many disappeared within a couple of days so I suspect the deer may have been back. On the 22^nd I found 7 remaining, the flowers were over, but it did appear that they had managed to set seed.

I like doing most ‘gardening’ jobs, but this in particular gives me the satisfaction of actually doing something to keep a rare species going. The number flowering each year appears to be increasing, so I hope that continues. I would also hope that Forestry England come to recognise that every species counts and that can take positive action to preserve as much as possible - with the help of volunteers!

Yellow Stars flowering this year in an area that we have managed by hand mowing