Peter's talk was about the interesting pollinators to be found in our local area, together with displays of the cunning ways flowers attract them.

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He started by explaining the biology of pollination and the vital role played by insects transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma. Flying insects such as flies, wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths are all pollinators but hairy insects such as bees are the best for collecting pollen. 

Flowers have evolved their shape, colour and scent to attract insect pollinators. Some flowers are specific to certain insects and humble plants can be disguised to attract different types of insect.  Ivy bees for example feast almost exclusively on Ivy and the Clarks mining bee is very particular to catkins. More unusual pollinators highlighted include the Bee fly  - which at first glance looks like a bee but is not.

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Flowers are designed for pollinators and have evolved in many ways to attract insects. Peter demonstrated how far flowers are prepared to go with examples from around the world.  Insects can be attracted to shape scent, colour, including ultra-violet light which humans cannot detect. Some plants have evolved to attract one particular insects species; for instance the hawkmoth with its long proboscis is drawn towards flowers with a long corolla. Habitat destruction therefore not only threatens the flower, but also the pollinator that goes with it.

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Orchids are some of the most complicated of all for pollination due to their structures. In the case of the rare the ladyslipper orchid, the bee enters the lip, becomes trapped, and escapes by squeezing beneath the stigma and then an anther at one of the lateral openings at the junction of the bases of the lip and petals, delivering and removing pollen in the process.

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Other orchids shown by Peter included the Bee Orchid,  Duck Orchid and Egret orchid, so named  because of their looks.