Country diary: A tiny orchid with mighty powers of deception | Oliver Southall

Wolstonbury Hill, West Sussex: The fly orchid looks like no fly I’ve ever seen – its target insect is a wasp. Even more strange is that neither I (nor Charles Darwin) have ever seen one being pollinated Many British orchids are named for their animal or humanoid appearance. List some and you have all the characters for a nursery-rhyme tale of transformation and trickery: lady, frog, man, fly and spider. Today’s protagonist is the fly orchid (Ophrys insectifera), a subtle conjuror of alternat...

By Oliver Southall