‘Beeutiful’ find at Denbigh wildflower meadow
An orchid is busy ‘beeing’ strongly deceptive thanks to a supportive biodiversity project.
Bee Orchids have been found to be multiplying at a county wildflower meadow at Denbigh for the first time by Denbighshire County Council’s Biodiversity team
The new orchids were discovered by the team during a survey of local meadows in the area to assess how species were faring during this growing season.
Our Wildflower Meadows Project helps and protects local nature and supports community wellbeing across the county. This project is funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project.
During the 2024 season 297 different wildflower species were recorded across these sites and a total of 5,269 individual wildflowers were logged overall, far outnumbering species found on more regularly mown grassland.
A number of the wildflower meadows also saw a resurgence in orchid species growing for the first time across the county.
And this resurgence of orchids is continuing in 2025 thanks to the work of the project.
Liam Blazey, Senior Biodiversity Officer said: “We discovered the extra bee orchids at a meadow in Denbigh recently, these small orchids actually look like a resting bee, are slightly hairy and even produce a smell similar to a female bee, giving it the perfect deception to attract male bees for pollination at this meadow!
“Not only that it’s also great for attracting a range of butterflies and moths which will really help boost the activity of this meadow as well.
“We are finding that orchids are continuing to resurge across all of our meadows again for 2025, we’ve also located a lot of pyramidal orchids across our sites and common spotted orchids have been found by the team in Bodelwyddan.”
“Pyramidal orchids were only previously found at coastal sites in 2023, however last year we found one at Ruthin and now we have found more inland which shows the meadows we have are working as a combined highway for insects and animals across the county to help repopulate these sites by carrying seeds from one to the other.”
“Orchid produce seeds which are incredibly small (also known as dust seeds). These seeds must come in contact with a special type of mycorrhizal fungi that will help the orchid seed germinate and aid it in its early growth. Each orchid tends to have a particular mycorrhizal fungi that it partners with, so unless the soil conditions are right for the fungi, we won’t get the orchids. Seeing these little plants on site indicates that we are heading in the right direction, and the meadows are continuing their journey to recovery.
Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “This is a fantastic find at the Denbigh site as it shows that as our meadows mature they are becoming crucial in providing support for nature that has struggled due to the impact of climate change.
“As more wildflowers such as the orchids return to sites they will help to add diversity and colour across our sites for the community to enjoy, along with the pollinators at risk who help put food on our tables.”