EARLY SPIDER ORCHID

Each spring, those with a botanical bent eagerly await news of the start of the orchid season. The species that kicks off events is almost always the Early Spider Orchid. This relative of the commoner, more widespread Bee Orchid, grows only on chalk downland in southern England. The biggest colonies lie in coastal Kent and Dorset, the most famous flourishing on a spoil heap created by excavation of the Eurotunnel.