National Trust Jersey opens wild orchid fields to the public

There are multiple species of wild orchid in the fields

National Trust Jersey is inviting islanders to come and see its "spectacular" wild orchid fields from Sunday and during its Love Nature Festival.

The fields are located at Le Noir Pré in St Ouen's Bay and La Blinerie in Grouville.

The trust said now was "the perfect time" to see the wetland habitats at "their very best".

The Love Nature Festival will run from 28 May until 4 June.

The aim of the festival is to showcase the trust's work and to enable behind the scenes opportunities at its sites, properties and habitats.

The best time to view the wild orchids is from May until June, National Trust Jersey said

Le Noir Pré and Clos de Seigneur are wet marshy meadows in the parish of St Ouen.

National Trust Jersey said at Le Noir Pré in 2020, there were more than 49,000 individual orchids.

The trust said these meadows had become "incredibly important reserves for native orchids" and had been managed over many years to maintain "exceptional floral diversity".

The trust said the diversity in the orchid meadows was achieved by hay cutting every August after the orchids had flowered and dispersed their seeds.

It then allowed a small herd of Jersey cows to graze the fields.

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