NINE species of orchids have almost been wiped out and most of the remainder are wilting after contractors for the Highways Agency zapped them with chemicals.

When consultant ecologist Michel Hughes checked the two acres of verges and ground at Harcombe, near Chudleigh, on Saturday, he was horrified to discover 90 per cent of the orchid colony was dead.

Next to the A38 Devon Expressway the orchids make it one of the top sites in the Devon and Cornwall highway verge network. It has a non-statutory designation as a County Wildlife Site which is supported by national policy.

It was in 1988 when Mr Hughes, who lives in Chudleigh, noticed there were orchids on the Harcombe verges.

Worried that highways were mowing all the verges, he successfully badgered them for a more sympathetic management scheme.

'While there have been some hiccups, by and large the regime has been appropriate,' he said.

'Twenty-one years ago there were small numbers of Common Spotted, Southern Marsh and Early Purple orchids and what drew my attention were 155 Bee orchids, the latter being uncommon in distribution in the county.

'With the changes and more appropriate management, more species started appearing and while numbers fluctuate, last year was the best yet,' said Mr Hughes.

That saw numbers of The Greater Butterfly reaching 717, along with several hundred to a thousand of the Common Spotted and Southern Marsh.

The species had increased to nine and there were also lower numbers of Early Purple, Common Twayblade, Bee, Green Winged, Birds Nest and Pyramidal, along with other species of plants of restricted distribution in Devon.

'Now they have been clobbered. Every area within the Highway Agency remit has been sprayed. They were probably targeting brambles but instead of spot spraying they blanket sprayed. The agency would have had sub-contractors doing the work,' he said.

Orchids are not the most robust and Mr Hughes said that while there was a possibility they would recover, they would not know the answer until at least next year.

At Monday's Chudleigh Town Council meeting, chairman Cllr Chris Webb said the orchids were an important part of the community's environmental heritage.

'The council has been monitoring and overseeing the spread of these rare plants and we are very disappointed this has happened,' he said.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: 'As part of our woodland management plan we spot spray scrub and invasive species such as bramble, ash and gorse in order to encourage biodiversity of species and increase the numbers of rare plants such as orchids. The plan has been successful and we have a very good record in protecting plants and encouraging biodiversity on verges across the south west.

'Spot spraying was carried out last week on this site. It has been brought to our attention that there has been over spraying and that some orchids have been killed. This is the first time this has happened, but we will be investigating and ensuring that this does not happen again.'