Overview

• A wild lady’s-slipper orchid seedling was confirmed in June 2024 at a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reintroduction site, marking the first natural regeneration of the species since the early 1900s.
• The flower was driven to extinction in the UK by Victorian plant hunters and habitat loss before a lone plant was found in the Yorkshire Dales in 1930, triggering round-the-clock volunteer protection.
• Captive breeding efforts began in the 1990s when privately sourced orchids were reared for release, laying the groundwork for larger-scale propagation.
• Since 2023, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has coordinated with Natural England, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the National Trust, Plantlife and the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) to plant and monitor hundreds of orchids.
• Organisers are seeking additional funding to extend the programme and establish self-sustaining lady’s-slipper populations across their former range from Cumbria to Derbyshire.