Rare orchid rediscovered on Highland estate after 250 years

The coralroot orchid was last found on Wester Ross' Balmacara Estate in 1772

A rare orchid has been rediscovered in a part of the Highlands after a gap of 250 years.

The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) said the coralroot orchid - whose scientific name is Corallorhiza trifida - was found on its Balmacara Estate in Wester Ross.

The plant was last recorded in the area in 1772 and at the time was the first ever record of coralroot orchid from the British Isles.

NTS is keeping the exact location a secret to protect it from being trampled on by mistake.

The find was made by ecologist Gus Routledge, who had just a week earlier found a new population of the plant in more typical woodland habitat near Inverness.

The orchid is classed as nationally scarce, meaning it has only ever been found in less than one hundred locations in the UK.

It is typically found in wet, swampy woodland in north-eastern areas of the UK.

NTS said there were very few records from the western side of Scotland.

'Special find'

The find was made by Mr Routledge during a visit from a small party of conservation land managers from the Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest.

Scotland's rainforest, also known as Atlantic woodland and Celtic rainforest, comprises native woodlands found in parts of the west coast.

Mr Routledge said: “I wasn’t really expecting to see it at Balmacara, but I’ve always got an eye out when walking through those wet woodlands.”

Jeff Waddell, of NTS, said: “This is a special find and a great addition to the assemblage of rare plants found in Scotland’s Rainforests, such as on the National Trust for Scotland’s Balmacara Estate."