Nationally Scarce Orchid Makes Record Appearance in Kent

A record number of the nationally scarce Man Orchid (Aceras anthropophorum) has been recorded at Kent Wildlife Trust’s Darland Banks Nature Reserve in Gillingham. Volunteers for the Trust estimate that there are some 7,000 flowering Man Orchids throughout Medway’s largest chalk grassland reserve.

The Man Orchid’s common name comes from the uncanny resemblance of its flower to a man. The head is formed from the petals and sepals and the suspended torso and limbs by the lobes of the labellum.

It grows to a height of between 15 and 40 cm and between April and June it produces a single central flower spike bearing up to ninety small, stemless flowers - the flowers varying from yellow-green to rich red-brown. The Man Orchid relishes a chalky environment and can be found in abandoned chalk and limestone quarries.

David Hutton, Reserves Officer (West Kent) for Kent Wildlife Trust, said “The main centre of the British population is found in the North Kent Downs and Surrey. Intensive farming and encroaching scrub, as well as lack of grazing have led to its disappearance from areas such as the Isle of Wight, which lost their population in 1983. Darland Banks Reserve is probably one of the most important sites for Man Orchids in the country”.

Darland Banks Reserve is owned by Medway Council and managed by Kent Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers. The site is also famous for a wide range of butterflies including the chalkhill blue, small blue and marbled white, as well as many typical chalk grassland flowers (and insects).

The reserve, which is free to all and open year-round, can be accessed via Darland Avenue (by The Star Inn), off the A2, Gillingham.

• With 23 species recorded, Kent is the UK stronghold for orchid variety.

 

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