PEOPLE are being urged to do their bit to conserve wild flowers.

Children and adults are being recruited, not only to keep an eye on areas where the plants grow, but to be trained in how to propagate them.

The Wildflower Ark Tees Valley Education Project is being launched at Nature's World, in Middlesbrough, the only site in the Tees Valley where the rare grass vetchling can be found.

The botanical centre plans to launch an education and training programme for schools and trainees using data and seeds collected from previous conservation projects.

A wild flower nursery is to be established at Nature's World, where people will be trained in wildflower propagation.

The nursery will be used to produce genetic stock for conservation and landscaping projects to ensure plants' survival.

"We are very keen to hear from members of the public who know of wild flowers in local urban or suburban areas that they feel are important to their local area or have been overlooked in the past,'' said project coordinator Helen Herring.

"Sites to look for are ponds, hedge-bottoms, grassland, old walls, beck valleys, streams and ditches. We will then be able to investigate those sites, record the wild flowers present and provide advice to landowners on how they could manage the site.''