extraction complete, the landscape must have been reminiscent
of a World War One battlefield, for a silent film, "The Guns
of Loos" was made in the Quarry in about 1931. However,
deserted by industrialists and film makers, the scene was
set for another kind of performance, and reclamation by
Nature commenced.
We have already seen in the previous article that plant life
appears in a 'new' habitat in a distinct succession from
pioneer plants to climax woodland. This succession takes
many years and the flora at each stage varies as circum-
stances dictate. It is likely that excavation in Grays
Chalk Quarry was phased out over a period of time for the
present vegetation represents several stages of the ecological
succession. It is this diversity of habitats which makes
the Quarry so interesting.
The southern end is composed largely of open grassland
containing a good variety of chalkland flora, dominated by
grasses and herbs. Six members of the Orchidaceae family
may be found here. The bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) is a
particularly attractive plant and derives its name quite
obviously from the appearance of its lower petal. It is a
notoriously unpredictable plant, although numbers in the
Quarry have remained constant for 2 or 3 years - about 25
plants. A fascinating sub species, the wasp orchid (Ophrys
trollii), also occurs. The pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis
pyramidalis) flowers a little later than most of the other
orchids found in the Quarry, and in July and August its
intense colouration makes it easy to spot amongst the
vegetation. Pure white varieties have also been noted.
The twayblade (Listera ovata) on the other hand is a fairly
inconspicuous plant - leaves, stem and flowers being various
shades of green. It is, however, a plant to be studied
closely as it has a complex pollination mechanism. It
occurs commonly throughout the Quarry. The common spotted
orchid (Dactylorchis fuchsii) is abundant in early summer
and careful examination will isolate the very similar
southern marsh orchid (Dactylorchis praetermissa). These
two species readily hybridise and this often makes
identification of the Dactylorchis genera difficult. The
man orchid (Aceras anthropophorum) also occurs in the grass-
land area. It gets its name again from the appearance of
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