ORCHIDS have come to life in west Dorset - with the National Trust labelling the flowers as 'magnificent'.

Spectacular displays of wild flowers have been spotted on the Golden Cap Estate, with displays of the autumn lady's tresses orchid regarded as one of the best seen in recent years.

The displays, on land cared for by the National Trust show the success of the way the land is managed under an organic tenancy agreement.

Earlier in the summer, fields at Westhay Farm were full of green-winged orchids but autumn has also brought magnificent displays of the diminutive orchid autumn lady’s tresses.

John Newbould, volunteer ecologist for the National Trust West Dorset, said: "There has been a magnificent display this year.

"It stands about three inches high and can be quite a difficult plant to see in long grass so we recruited some help from the Dorset Flora Group to cover a larger area than last year when we found 200 flowering spikes at Westhay Farm.

"This year, in all, we visited seventeen fields estimating that there were well over 3,500 flowering spikes."

The small autumn lady’s tresses orchid has been known from a few fields at Westhay Farm since the early 1980s. Flowering in early autumn, it is a plant found mainly in the south of England with its northerly outposts on the limestone in South Yorkshire.

The flowers of the tiny orchid, not easily seen if the grass is long, form a circular spiral round its stem. Taking some 14 years to grow from seed, the orchid is only found in fields where the soil contains rare fungi, which in its early stages provides the energy to form a tuber.

From surveys carried out in 1981, National Trust records showed only 11 flowering spikes in 1981 – with only slightly more found a few years ago.

The increase is thought to be a result of the success of the way the fields are managed by the National Trust’s tenant farmer. The fields are managed under an organic tenancy agreement with most fields getting a late hay cut followed by grazing with cattle.

This year, nearly all the fields where the orchid was found also had plenty of clovers, autumn hawkbit and some bird’s-foot trefoil, which assist the bees pollinating the orchids.

"It is a great success story for us," added Mr Newbould.

"It shows how we want some of these meadows to look, providing grazing for our tenant and a habitat for wildlife."