First new wild lady's-slipper orchid found for 100 years marks conservation win

Independent

2 days ago

A decades-long bid to bring back one of Britain's 'rarest and most impressive' wildflowers has seen success with the first new plant found in the wild in nearly 100 years.
Conservationists now hope the lady's-slipper orchid, which came close to vanishing from the English countryside, could one day be restored across its former range.
The striking lady's-slipper orchid was believed to be extinct in the UK by the early 20th century, due to over-collection by plant hunters gripped by the Victorian orchid craze, and loss of its habitat.
But discovery of a single plant in a remote location in the Yorkshire Dales in 1930 prompted round-the-clock protection by decades of dedicated volunteers, and later efforts to propagate and reintroduce orchids to former haunts.
Two years ago, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust secured a grant from Natural England's species recovery programme to ramp up the work protecting the habitat, rearing many new orchids and reintroducing plants into suitable habitat.
Last year, monitoring uncovered the first 'new' lady's-slipper orchid in nearly 100 years at one of the reintroduction sites, which meant planted-out orchids had managed to produce seeds that had germinated into new plants.
Jono Leadley, managing the project on behalf of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said the discovery of the new plant in the wild was a 'truly thrilling moment'.
'To see a healthy population of lady's-slipper orchids back in their native area that are now reproducing themselves gives us real hope for the future,' he said.
'This first sign of success is a result of decades of dedication and commitment shown by many volunteers and the staff of the various organisations involved,' he added.
Efforts to boost the population of lady's-slipper orchids, whose last-known wild location remained a closely-guarded secret, began in the 1990s, with a plea for help that resulted in a small number of privately-owned, wild-sourced orchids being offered as part of a captive breeding programme.
Plants were reintroduced to locations in the north of England – which were also kept secret to avoid the ongoing threat of theft.
The project since 2023 has been led by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and supported by partners Natural England, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the National Trust, Plantlife and the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI).
Orchids were propagated by Kew, which has worked for many years on saving the species, using techniques that meant many more seedlings sprouted than in the wild, with young plants then nurtured by a network of volunteer orchid specialists managed by the National Trust.
Suitable wild sites were identified by Plantlife and Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts, with young orchids planted out with expert help from BSBI, who also closely monitored and assessed each site.
Reintroductions were carried out at three new sites in Yorkshire and several hundred new orchids were produced to be planted out in future years.
In June last year, an orchid which had grown naturally at one of the reintroduction sites was discovered, marking a major success of the programme, conservationists said.
Kevin Walker, of BSBI, said: 'The discovery of this naturally regenerating seedling represents a significant turning point for one of our rarest and most threatened plants, and is testament to the dedication of hundreds of volunteers and enthusiasts who have carefully nurtured it back into the wild.
'It provides evidence that this beautiful plant can, with a bit of help from us, re-establish itself across its former range.'
RBG Kew's senior research leader Mike Fay said: 'Trying to save the lady's-slipper orchid in England has been one of RBG Kew's flagship conservation projects for many years.
'It is a long-lived species, with seedlings taking many years to grow to the stage where they can flower and produce the seeds that will give rise to the next generation.'
He said reintroduction sites had been watched for signs of seedlings 'with bated breath' since introduced plants first flowered in 2004, adding the appearance of a seedling last year was 'incredibly exciting' and offered hope of a self-sustaining population.
The project team says it will continue work to help lady's-slipper orchids, described by Plantlife's Elizabeth Cooke as 'the crowning glory of Britain's wildflowers – one of the rarest and most impressive'.
If more funding is secured, it is hoped the project will be able to expand and create more self-sustaining populations across the whole former range of the lady's-slipper orchid from Cumbria to Derbyshire.
Efforts are needed to get orchids back into good quality habitat so there are enough to create a viable population of the rare plant and funding is required to support propagation, habitat restoration, reintroductions and monitoring, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said.
The charity also said people who wanted to see a lady's-slipper orchid could do so by visiting Kilnsey Park near Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales in late May and early June.