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2012 UK Orchid season updates (1 Viewer)

To avoid raising expectations I would clarify that the pictures above weren't taken at Wye Downs - and we didn't have time to check if any were in flower yet there.

Rich M

Obviously giving exact locations is not on here but the eastern plants flower earlier than Wye Sean - heard you may be visiting Kent Tues, if so contact me if you need gen

Bluebell Hill - no Pyramidals yet

Today's general tour:

A few hundred Lady Orchids

One Early Purple still in flower

40+ White Helleborines

30+ Greater Butterflies

115 Monkey Orchids ( not a thorough search )

From 20 year's searching this year is way late for many species

Rest of the day spent looking for insects in sub optimum conditions

Regards

James
 
Man orchids looking good at Warwickshire site today along with greater butterfly, common spotted and twayblade. Couldn't find bee orchid though. Can anyone recommend a good site near or not too far from Solihull for burnt orchid?
 
Coral roots

plenty of coral roots still at Sandscale - also northern Marsh, common spotted and lots of wierd and wonderful crosses in flower - very magenta flowers, very heavy spotted leaves, almost black leaves, etc. Also spotted some healthy looking dune helebore stems - which will be worth going back for in about a month
 

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plenty of coral roots still at Sandscale - also northern Marsh, common spotted and lots of wierd and wonderful crosses in flower - very magenta flowers, very heavy spotted leaves, almost black leaves, etc. Also spotted some healthy looking dune helebore stems - which will be worth going back for in about a month

Ah good timing! I was wondering if it was worth going there or not on Wednesday. I think you have justmade up my mind for me!
 
I went over to fairly local fen on Saturday to see columbines really but was please to see the new sub species of Southern marsh flowering beautifully in the fen. This used to be pugsleys but recent research has shown that the east anglian and many southern examples are actually a sub species of Southern Marsh orchids. The fen holds a very nice collection of these plants. There were a couple of early marsh orchids growing there too.

There was also a chap from the wildlife trust who was doing a bit of research on that population and it was he who confirmed the plants identity to me.
 
Strange Bee Orchids

Found some weird and wonderful Bee's today, photos of three of the plants attached. Bee3 is only part open at the moment but it's going to be at least as strange as Bee1.

Hope you like them
Alan
 

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Found some weird and wonderful Bee's today, photos of three of the plants attached. Bee3 is only part open at the moment but it's going to be at least as strange as Bee1.

Hope you like them
Alan

One more for good measure.

Alan
 

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Peak District Updates

Hi everyone, just thought i would share a few quick updates on the Orchid state of play in the Peak District. For those of you unaware i am now in the third year of a comprehensive surveying scheme for the Peak's Orchids. Thanks to those of you who attended my last lecture on my findings so far. For those of you interested i will be presenting the talk again (with updates!) for the Cheadle Botanical Society on Friday 15th june. It will be held in the Cheadle Guildhall, Staffordshire Moorlands and begins at 7.30pm. E-mail me if you would like more info!

EARLY PURPLE ORCHIDS

Peaked three weeks ago.
A magnificent display at some sites, and appauling at others, mostly in the more exposed locations.
Alba's have cropped up at three sites this year:
Brassington Moor x1
Long Dale, Hartington x1
Cressbrook Dale, St. Peter's Rock x8

GREEN WINGED ORCHID

I have visited all four historically recorded sites (Middleton, Ible, Carsington, Rose End) this year to no avail.

BURNT ORCHID

Peaked last week.
At the main site i made a reasonable count of 196.
At the second site (which i only visited today) i counted only 15. A friend who visited last week counted 80, so i may have not been in the same area as her or the hoards of cows in the field may have eaten a large proportion!

BIRDS NEST ORCHID

Peaking this week.
Coming into bloom at all three sites now (Manifold, Wye & Lathkill Valleys) though in smaller numbers at the first two sites that in previous years.

FLY ORCHID

Peaking this week.
A good display at the main Peak sites. More impressive (to me anyway) is my discovery after days of exploration of three new sites around the Via Gellia including a further one where they have not been recorded in 30 years.
At the two main sites counts are 45 and 101.

- - - Plea for Help - - -

If anyone has any information on the Lesser Twayblade site in Snake Pass could you please let me know, as i do not know the exact location so my searches will probably have less chance of succeeding that a needle in a haystack.

And apologies for any spelling mistakes, i am typing this quickly before i head off to Kent for 4 days at 6am!

All the best, Byron.
 
Found some weird and wonderful Bee's today, photos of three of the plants attached. Bee3 is only part open at the moment but it's going to be at least as strange as Bee1.

Hope you like them
Alan

Alan

The first flower on Bee 2 is some sort of peloric - it hasn't got any petals and seems to have a lip that is half lip and half sepal. The second flower has quite sepaloid petals.

Bee3 looks like a var flavescens.

Rich M
PS can you PM me some directions, assuming you are not at the other end of the country.
 
Heath Spotted variation

I visited the local bog today to check out the Southern Marsh ssp schoenophila. This wet site holds good numbers of Heath Spotted orchids, the vast majority of which are basically white flowered with just a few pale purple flecks and dashes.

Today I found a few that were more heavily pigmented, as well as a nice all white var leucantha.

I also found a couple of odd looking plants that seemed to be hybrids, but I'll have to post the pics in another message as only 5 attachments are allowed.

Rich M
 

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Dact hybrids

I'm not sure if the first one is a hybrid or just a very odd looking Heath Spotted. It certainly looked very odd in the field and I wondered if it could conceivably be a hybrid between Heath Spotted (the spotted leaves) and Southern Marsh ssp schoenophila (the weedy stature, the projecting central lobe on the lip and the odd patterning).

I thought the second was a Southern Marsh type at first but the leaves have very faint spots that are hardly noticeable in the field.

Rich M
 

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Found some weird and wonderful Bee's today
Hope you like them
Alan

Not quite as weird and wonderful as yours, Alan, but here's a few I came across today.

Rog
 

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Not quite as weird and wonderful as yours, Alan, but here's a few I came across today.

Rog

First looks good for var. belgarum. The second hasn't twisted round in the normal fashion; preventing the apex of the lip to fold under. The third looks like it could've been a munched off var. flavescens.

Mike.
 
Thanks Guys,

I was hoping for photos of var. clorantha that regularly occur at the site, but it looks like they're still in bud.

There's pics of some of the other variants, Mike, over on WAB in the "Flower of the Day" thread.

Cheers,
Rog
 
Amazing sight of what must be at least 200 Greater Butterfly Orchids at a site near Stroud this weekend - on a very good little guided Orchid Walk, that my Mum spotted in the local rag.

Also large numbers of White Helleborines, several Bird's Nests, and a lot of Common Spotted and Fragrants just coming into flower and thousands of Twayblades all at the same location.

Also some Adder's Tongue Ferns
 
Originally Posted by rmielcarek
In deepest Zummerzet the Fly x Bees are coming into flower - counted 24 today which is a new record - and there were a couple of extra probables still in bud.
Quite a variable bunch, including this rather narrow bodied specimen.
Rich M

Hi there, over 30 FlyBee when we visited last week, also a few Fly & Bee. Oddly I have not been able to find any Bee yet in Dorset. Further up the 303 we went to see the Burnt tip, I did get my car stuck on the track so beware anyone who drives up there. We did see this var ochroleuca there thanks to Alan.
 

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Went down to the river Avon north of Christchurch, yesterday to check the Marsh orchids. Early marsh already going over & Southern just coming out, lots of hybrids & even a poss Leopard, except the markings should become solid & not broken.
 

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Fly x Bee Hybrids

Some of my photos from Saturday despite awful conditions (persistent wind, low light and rain!) Lots of Bee orchids coming out there now and a few Fly still about - easy to see how they hybridised here. Also plenty of Pyramidal orchids and Common Broomrape.




Mike.
 

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