2013 UK orchids (1 Viewer)

[leptochila]

And none at Ynyslas Dunes in Mid-Wales this year either!

Mike

 

[lizard orchid]

Remember it is a late season and things have not caught up as some people suggested. Autumn Ladies Tresses will flower I am sure in time but later than usual. Sadly we have no current records for the species here in Northamptonshire. There is a record for it on a golf course in the county by the late Cliff Christie but I failed to find rosettes or flowering plants when I checked the golf course in 2011.
But I hope you see some soon people.

Brian Laney.

 

[Dylan Edwards]

Alt

Starting to show nicely on the Great Orme Llandudno ....also a Juv. dotterel been on site for the last 2 days too

 

[Aya.bun]

ALT in North West

Saw approx 50 ALT spikes on NT property Wed Aug 28th, most still in bud; last year the flowers were well out by Aug 21st. The late year continues.

Carol

 

[Wood Nymph]

Starting to show nicely on the Great Orme Llandudno ....also a Juv. dotterel been on site for the last 2 days too

Oh thats good, I've never seen them on the Orme before. I'll message you regarding their whereabouts

Saw approx 50 ALT spikes on NT property Wed Aug 28th, most still in bud; last year the flowers were well out by Aug 21st. The late year continues.

Carol

Carol was this at Jack Scout or the surrounding areas by any chance?

 

[Aya.bun]

Oh thats good, I've never seen them on the Orme before. I'll message you regarding their whereabouts



Carol was this at Jack Scout or the surrounding areas by any chance?

Yes, that is where they were. Have not explored any further yet.

Saw ALT about 4 yrs ago on Gt Orme, a helpful ranger told me where she'd seen a spike in bud near a few few parked cars, and from this I found them - just a few spikes. The funny part of this story is that when we went to look around the bronze age mine workings afterwards, there were 4 spikes together in the picnic area, so I then spoke to the archaeologists and told them that they had a different sort of conservation on their hands to that which they were used to!
Happy hunting
Carol

 

[joannacary]

Yesterday I did one of my biggest searches for ghost orchid for a while between 8am and 8.18pm. Sadly I still ran out of daylight. I checked one site in Oxon and one site in Bucks. Sadly no luck but I did see birds nest orchid, yellow birds nest, violet helleborine and white helleborine all in seedhead at the Oxon site with yellow birds nest, narrow lipped helleborine and birds nest orchid seen at the Bucks site also in seedhead. However there was a couple of violet helleborines still in flower at the Oxon site. Some plants were protected by holly bushes, one plant of which was almost buried in the holly bush. At least these were protected from the deer. A few years ago I put a number of cages up to protect the violet helleborine at the Oxon site. At least three cages by a path have gone missing but other cages in the wood still occur with some degree of success. However with a few of the cages the deer have nipped the tops off the violet helleborine. I need taller wire mesh cages!
I did meet a kind couple who live very locally who have bumped into a number of us looking for ghost orchid over the years. They now have my contact details incase they find or hear of any ghost orchid sighting, considering they walk the dog almost every day at the Oxon site.
It is possible a dog walker or someone on a fungus foray could find a ghost orchid especially if they know what it looks like. I always carry a book with a picture of the plant to show people just incase that person says "I have just seen one of those".
Sean, not to knock your searching but I think 4 hours is just scratching the tip of a very large iceburg so to speak.
To Sean and all searching, I know it is a pain looking at beech leaves and finding nothing at the end of it but the more hours put in and greater areas searched then the chances of finding ghost orchid might improve. BUT it is good other people are also looking. I was very surprised I did not see anyone else looking yesterday. The ghost orchid has got to come up again in the Chilterns, I am sure of it.

Brian Laney.

I've been walking Lambridge woods all my life, and have lived within a short walk of ghost orchids for the best part of 60 years without seeing one (!). it's only now, this summer, that I've become interested in the flowers we took for granted as children, and which my old maths teacher, Vera Paul, used to bang on about (if you were lucky and could get her off the subject of differential equations). I realise it's a bit of a cheek, but an exhaustive search of all the materials I can find, plus a chat to various people locally, has not shown me the best places to look. so far I've confined myself to a spot where a great deal of YBN came up 2-3 weeks ago. my plan is to keep looking most days, so I'd be very pleased to hear from anyone who can help pinpoint my search.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Yes, that is where they were. Have not explored any further yet.

Saw ALT about 4 yrs ago on Gt Orme, a helpful ranger told me where she'd seen a spike in bud near a few few parked cars, and from this I found them - just a few spikes. The funny part of this story is that when we went to look around the bronze age mine workings afterwards, there were 4 spikes together in the picnic area, so I then spoke to the archaeologists and told them that they had a different sort of conservation on their hands to that which they were used to!
Happy hunting
Carol

Oh that's great! 50 spikes is good to hear, the last time I visited Jack Scout (about 3 or 4 years ago) I found just the one spike - the rest had been grazed by cattle, which was really sad. Good to know they've made a comeback!

I've never explored around the Bronze Age mines on the Orme before so I'll keep that in mind when I'm searching, thank you .

 

[The Quiet Man]

Alt

Do you mean Greenham Common?

Sean

Yes It was Greenham Common. Being new to the BF site I was unsure of the 'location' protocols.

I checked all the known hot spots at the site. I was very lucky that someone guided me to a single plant. In previous years I've seen 100's.

John

 

[Ghostly Vision]

Yes It was Greenham Common. Being new to the BF site I was unsure of the 'location' protocols.

I checked all the known hot spots at the site. I was very lucky that someone guided me to a single plant. In previous years I've seen 100's.

John

No worries john. Hundreds in flower there now, it is a well-published site.

Sean

 

[heakl]

Autumn Lady's-tresses now showing at a few sites in the Cotswolds, attached photo shows the rosette that will produce next years flower spike is already well formed.

Would there be any interest in a new thread dealing with the emergence and development of the orchid rosettes, perhaps another approach would be a new thread for each species tracking them from rosette appearance, through flowering, fruiting and seed setting, between us we could produce quite a useful reference.

Your thoughts, or better ideas, please.

Alan

 

[juanit]

Alt

Just returned from Greenham Common as Sean says 100`s to see.
Probably at their best in about another week.

Anita & Mike

 

[jeffnsue]

And plenty on the Great Orme too.
Jeff

 

[Leifus]

And plenty on the Great Orme too.
Jeff

excellent photos Jeff

 

[LizandDave]

ALT in Kent

First time of looking I found just 2 spikes near the Kent coast yesterday. Very pleased as the venue isn't published as far as I am aware, although the area has been noted for them but not this site.
I thought it might be a good place to look as there were a lot of pyramidal orchids there a month ago.
Dave

 

[fgrsimon]

Plenty of ALT's popping up at SH in Glos this weekend. Amazed what a difference one week makes, as last week I was unable to find anything. They will be at their best next weekend, at the moment it's all too easy to crush emerging spikes whilst looking at ones that have started to flower. There will be 100's floweiring by next weekend.

 

[muba]

ALTs seem to be appearing everywhere. Could it be the recent cooler weather that was the trigger? This fits in with last year's earlier flowering and my memory of a miserable second half to August.

 

[heakl]

This was something of a surprise in Wiltshire today, Violet Helleborine still fresh and in full flower.

Alan

 

[Leifus]

Autumn Lady's-tresses still half a week to a week from their best on the Dorset coast but quite a few now in good condition.

 

[James Hunter]

50+ ALTs just starting to flower at Littlestone near Dungeness