Students and staff are delighted to have spotted a rare Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) in the Academy's Eco-garden this month.

Students and staff are delighted to have spotted a rare Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) in the Academy's Eco-garden this month. The plant was identified by a wild flower expert based at Nature's World, Coulby Newham and we have been informed that though it is unusual to find such a plant in the Lower Tees Valley, they can sometimes be found on the short coastal turf near Redcar.

Records show that one specimen appeared in 2000 in Bluebell Beck, and another turned up in Hartlepool a few years ago. Quite by coincidence there is also a colony that has turned up at Nature's World which is also flowering.

Although they are designed to mimic a female bee to fool male bees into wanting to land and mate, inadvertently pollinating the flower, the bees in our area are rarely fooled and so they are self pollinated. This means our orchid will set seed (dust-like) and there may well be more orchids that turn up in the future in the garden, but bear in mind they take at least three years from seed before they flower so we will have to be patient!

The rosettes of leaves first appear in the autumn and stay green over the winter so how you look after the grass on site over the winter is important. The rosettes are not easy to spot but once you've seen one then they are starightforward but you need to look closely and concentrate!

This rare find is further evidence of the increasing bio-diversity the Eco-team have fostered in the garden and it is very encouraging to be able to see wild beauties like this flourishing in an area which has been so successfully developed and nurtured over recent years.