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2018 Orchid Thread (1 Viewer)

Am struggling to ID these two, can anyone help please?

Pics were taken 5th/6th Jun 2018 and Location is the eastern edge of the Mendips, in Somerset. Both are within a couple of hundred meters of each other, in damp grassland, and height is about 13". Although plant 2 has striking bluish flowers I'm assuming they're the same species(?). Also, plant 1 is just upwind of a large colony of fuchsii and amongst them are several very large and robust specimens with leopard-spotted leaves, red flowers and wide lips - quite spectacular. I'm guessing these are hybrids of fuchsii and plant 1.

No Southern or Early Marsh are listed at the site and it's well-outside the Northern's range. Within a few miles are colonies of Southern Marsh but they are only just opening whereas these guys are in full flower and starting to set-seed. My first thoughts were Early Marsh but NBN shows sparse records for Somerset and the nearest report is some distance away - so it's got me stumped.

And ideas?

All Southern Marsh.

Flowering time can be variable, even between colonies that are not far apart. I monitor a number of colonies in NE Somerset, some started to flower in early May, others just starting this week.

Your large hybrids will be x grandis (CSO x SMO).


Can you PM me the site details, I live in the Chew Valley


Rich M
 
All Southern Marsh.

Flowering time can be variable, even between colonies that are not far apart. I monitor a number of colonies in NE Somerset, some started to flower in early May, others just starting this week.

Your large hybrids will be x grandis (CSO x SMO).


Can you PM me the site details, I live in the Chew Valley


Rich M

That's great! Thanks very much for your help, didn't realise SMOs were open so early.

Have sent you a pm.
 
New Quarry Reserve

We were delighted to be able to visit our local Minera Quarry for the first time under its new status as the Minera Quarry Nature Reserve. It is a work in progress but looks very promising and offers a wide range of wild orchids and other flora, as well as birds.

In a briefish visit of no more than two hours we found Northern Marsh, Southern Marsh, possible D x Venusta, Common Spotted in abundance, Common Twayblade both in flower and bud in very good numbers and best of all 8 diminutive frog orchids already in flower, indeed a couple beginning to go over, close to, but not exactly in, the location where we have previously seen them.

The photos were taken with a small compact camera - so a little below top standard!
 

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Alyn Waters update

We returned to AW Country Park this morning. A couple of Bee orchids were in flower, along with numerous D.fuchsii, one with slightly Rhodochilla-like appearance and N.ovata. We saw this trifoliate specimen - not uncommon but needs looking for even in a largish population. The Bee illustrated here, like many Bee orchids, had a slightly "different" appearance, the pointed tip of the lip not being recurved, and the "shoulders" apparently protruding a little more than usual. But unusual is not that unusual with O.apifera !
 

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Small White Orchids

I had Vicarage Meadows in mind for seeing Small White orchid , but i haven't been for about 2 years , so i was wondering if anyone had visited lately .....


Appreciate any feedback
 
I had Vicarage Meadows in mind for seeing Small White orchid , but i haven't been for about 2 years , so i was wondering if anyone had visited lately .....


Appreciate any feedback


Hi. Dylan. Like you we haven't been in recent years, but a phone call to the warden might give you more up-to-date information about the state of play last year. Certainly numbers were very small the last time we went.
 
Hi. Dylan. Like you we haven't been in recent years, but a phone call to the warden might give you more up-to-date information about the state of play last year. Certainly numbers were very small the last time we went.

Message on their website says there is a problem with the phone-line so haven't tried .......Let everyone know how i get on .
 
Alyn Waters - Bee orchids

We paid a return visit to AW Country Park on Friday morning, and found that although there were only a few Bee orchids on the Gwersyllt side, there were more on the Llay side. They appear to have spread from their usual location to the other side of the path, and we guesstimated that there were perhaps between 30-50 plants in flower, including this specimen with reduced lip marking.

We were also pleased to note that the pyramidal orchids which we had seen for the first time at the park last year, had reappeared and were just coming into flower on the Gwersyllt side.
 

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Just had a good morning in Warwickshire although very humid!

Eleven man orchids at the usual site with an abundance of greater butterfly, twayblade and common spotted.

Word of warning though, when taking a photo of a greater butterfly an adder came within a couple of inches of my hand as I moved the camera into position and spooked it. Never seen an adder move so fast - or myself for that matter!

Then a 20 minute journey to Draycote Meadows to see the swathes of green winged orchids, plus many common spotted. (Small coppers showing nicely too).

Waiting for lightning storms now, though can’t be like last night, surely?

Didn’t know about the Facebook group, but have sent a request. Not sure what they will see that proves I don’t want to steel orchids though as I have to have tight settings because of my job.

It's a few years since I last visited the well-known Man Orchid site, so we went there on Wednesday to re-acquaint ourselves with the area and they were still showing well, though past their best, now.

Also went down the road to Harbury Spoilbank and saw quite a few Common Twayblades and Common Spotted Orchids, including the one below. It doesn't appear to have any spots on the leaves and the flowers looked pure white until we got very close in and saw the much reduced typical petal markings.

The WWT/Butterfly Conservation scheme of planting lots of Kidney Vetch into suitable locations in this area seems to have proved successful as well, with at least four 'beneficiaries' present plus a couple of Marbled Whites.
 

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Can anyone give any news of the situation of Fen orchids at Kenfig this year?

Yes I can .....!! I visited last week and i found 3 colonies c.14-16 plants


If you make your way to the Bird Hide and then follow the main path heading in a right hand direction . Proceed across heading towards the main dune slack , i found 10 plants at the southern end of the slack . I noticed that where the Marsh helleborines were budding i found Fen orchids , obliviously this is not cast iron but that was my experience .

Incidentally I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the precise on-site directions to the Minera Frog orchids .....though i think next year i will attempt to get here a week or so earlier . i found 6 species of orchid at the site , my first visit here but certainly not my last . Will be looking forward to searching for Autumn gentians


The local "celebrity" Iolo Williams seen at Minera too ...
 
Dark-Red helleborines

I found DRH budding and flowering at the Great Orme , if you have read the excellent ' The Orchid Hunter' by Leif Bersweden you will know where the plants are !!!


PM if you need directions ...
 
Yes I can .....!! I visited last week and i found 3 colonies c.14-16 plants


If you make your way to the Bird Hide and then follow the main path heading in a right hand direction . Proceed across heading towards the main dune slack , i found 10 plants at the southern end of the slack . I noticed that where the Marsh helleborines were budding i found Fen orchids , obliviously this is not cast iron but that was my experience .

Incidentally I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the precise on-site directions to the Minera Frog orchids .....though i think next year i will attempt to get here a week or so earlier . i found 6 species of orchid at the site , my first visit here but certainly not my last . Will be looking forward to searching for Autumn gentians


The local "celebrity" Iolo Williams seen at Minera too ...

Many thanks for the reply on Kenfig, Dylan. I doubt if we will make it to Kenfig this year because of health issues, but it is good to know that the "fens" are still alive and kicking.

Re. Autumn Gentian, if you are up this way in late August / early September Llanymynech Rocks is another good site, possibly more fruitful than Minera.

I am glad that you managed to locate the "frogs"; they are a bit out of the way as you have seen. Yes, you would need to be a week or two earlier in future to see them at their best. That said, things do seem earlier up here this year, no doubt a reflection of the warm, dry and sunny weather which we have had for several weeks now.

Martin
 
Small white Orchid

I have just realised as i looked this thread that i didn't update on my visit to Vicarage Meadows


After a 2 hour hunt i found none ......2 GBO and many Health fragrant and countless HSO


Whilst in mid-Wales i rang the warden at Elan Valley , a site i had visited in previous years to see Bog orchid but upsettingly i was told now that after suspected theft they are now considered extinct at this site.. ( I mean how would do such a thing .......?)
 
I have just realised as i looked this thread that i didn't update on my visit to Vicarage Meadows


After a 2 hour hunt i found none ......2 GBO and many Health fragrant and countless HSO


Whilst in mid-Wales i rang the warden at Elan Valley , a site i had visited in previous years to see Bog orchid but upsettingly i was told now that after suspected theft they are now considered extinct at this site.. ( I mean how would do such a thing .......?)

That is doubly sad news - first of all re. Small Whites, though they were always few in numbers at Abergwesyn. But it is even sadder to hear of the loss of the Elan Valley Bog orchids. We were taken there some years ago to see them by the then warden. Thank you for updating us, though in neither case is it happy news.
 
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Eryrys

We called in at Eryrys quarry this morning to see if the Frog orchids were still flowering. No sign of the (generally later) larger plants, which appear not to have flowered at all this summer - no doubt due to the warm, sunny and very dry weather up here. The earlier, smaller plants were still in evidence but in small numbers and well past their best. Common Fragrant, Common Spotted and some scattered and rather desiccated Common Twayblades were all in evidence. The exceptionally fine weather seems to have brought things on early and finished them off early too!
 

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I have just realised as i looked this thread that i didn't update on my visit to Vicarage Meadows


After a 2 hour hunt i found none ......2 GBO and many Health fragrant and countless HSO


Whilst in mid-Wales i rang the warden at Elan Valley , a site i had visited in previous years to see Bog orchid but upsettingly i was told now that after suspected theft they are now considered extinct at this site.. ( I mean how would do such a thing .......?)

Hi Dylan

Between us, I don't think that's strictly true...

The plants on the north side of Pont ar Elan disappeared around 2007 but then I found another small colony much further up the valley.

Subsequently, a much larger population was found about 100m from the original Pont ar Elan colony where I have photographed them in recent years. I remember, Martin, that Sorcha showed these plants to you but wouldn't tell me where they were. However, I found them pretty easily with your directions. I suspect she is attempting to keep people away from the site.

I think she tends to be very closed about sites because, for example, she had a Small White orchid appear on her farm last year (up the valley). After several email exchanges attempting to prove my trustworthiness, she blanked me when I suggested we meet up and she show me the plant.

I'll send you some directions Dylan. Those Bog orchids are almost certainly still there. As for theft, I doubt that very much indeed!

Mike
 
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