EXPERTS behind a milestone project to save the extremely rare juniper tree from extinction are celebrating a scheme which has planted 1,000 new plants.

The juniper tree, whose berries flavour gin, has been in a major decline for many years and experts are baffled as to why it is happening.

The plant was listed amongst the region’s rarest in the 1990s and the Forestry Commission has been looking to save its future.

The reasons behind the juniper’s decline, which has occurred widely across the North, are unknown with theories including climate change.

The seeds of revival locally were planted by Charles Critchley, from Pickering, North Yorkshire, a former wildlife ranger who still works for the Forestry Commission.

He began more than 15 years ago to take cuttings from four old juniper trees in nearby Cropton Forest which he then propagated in his garden.

The bushes were then planted in Cropton Forest and Bumble Wood, near to Pickering, and some of them are now two metres high.

The Forestry Commission has also worked with the Helmsley Wall Garden, Helmsley, on the North York Moors, over the years to help cultivate the juniper trees.

The trees have now taken root and the Forestry Commission is hopeful that the juniper will now spread naturally.

Mr Critchley said: "The trees are in good health and getting nearly 1,000 specimens to take root is a great achievement.

"The key is whether these trees will regenerate naturally. That’s no easy matter for a juniper as both male and female trees are needed to produce off spring.

"And even when fertilised seed does reach the ground it may not germinate for another three years."