Common spotted-orchid
The common spotted-orchid is the easiest of all our orchids to see: sometimes, so many flowers appear together that they create a pale pink carpet in our woodlands, old quarries, dunes and marshesā¦
The common spotted-orchid is the easiest of all our orchids to see: sometimes, so many flowers appear together that they create a pale pink carpet in our woodlands, old quarries, dunes and marshesā¦
The bee orchid is a sneaky mimic - the flowerās velvety lip looks like a female bee. Males fly in to try to mate with it and end up pollinating the flower. Sadly, the right bee species doesnātā¦
The Common fragrant-orchid lives up to its name: it produces a sweet, orangey smell that is very strong in the evening. Look for its densely packed, pink flower spikes on chalk grasslands inā¦
The Early purple orchid is one of the first orchids to pop up in spring. Look for its pinkish-purple flowers from April, when bluebells still carpet our woodland floors. Its leaves are dark greenā¦
The petals of the rare Lizard orchid's flowers form the head, legs and long tail of a lizard. They are greenish, with light pink spots and stripes, and smell strongly of goats! Spot this tallā¦
This unassuming orchid is easily overlooked. It is found patchily across the UK, but has been declining for decades.
The Pyramidal orchid lives up to its name - look for a bright pinky-purple, densely packed pyramid of flowers atop a green stem. It likes chalk grassland, sand dunes, roadside verges and quarriesā¦
Discover what nature treasures were found during a recent bioblitz at Gentleshaw Common and learn why species monitoring is so important on our nature reserves.
Spring is eagerly anticipated by all wildlife-lovers. Not only does the weather improve and the days get longer, but our wildlife explodes into life once again. Getting out and about to seeā¦
The spotted ray is one of the smallest species of skate, growing to only 80 cm.
A short, but pretty plant of unimproved grasslands, the Green-winged orchid gets its name from the green veins in the 'hood' of its flowers. Look for it in May and June.
This is probably the most widespread and commonest of the marsh orchids.