Round about now kettle-cases start popping up on the Isle of Wight. That's the local name for early-purple orchids, which, as the name suggests, start flowering relatively early, in spring. If you live in England it won't be long before it's the same round your way, if it isn't already.

Orchids are mysterious things, appearing apparently from nowhere, flowering spectacularly, and then disappearing sometimes for years. No wonder they have a certain mystique.

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A perennial question, almost an urban myth, concerns the protected status of orchids. It's so often repeated that it's taken to be true, but the real situation is that not all orchids are specially protected - in fact, most of the orchids one commonly finds have no greater protection than dandelions. That's because many orchids are not actually very rare, just hard to find because of their habit of flowering briefly, and of disappearing for seasons and then reappearing seemingly at random.

All wild plants are protected when growing in the wild to a very limited extent. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 section 13 1(b) all wild flowers are protected from uprooting (although not picking or cutting, and not when it'a an incidental result of an otherwise lawful operation, which covers a lot of things). Additionally, some plants, which do include some orchids, have further protection under section 13 1(a) against picking, uprooting and destruction.

So we should leave the orchids for others to enjoy, but not out of a fear of incarceration, but perhaps just because it's the right thing to do.