JCL
Well-known member
Unless you can quickly engineer an invite to one of the Queen's garden parties. (And, even then, surely it will have gone over.)
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2013 UK orchids (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter JCL
- Start date
Unless you can quickly engineer an invite to one of the Queen's garden parties. (And, even then, surely it will have gone over.)
Irish lady's tresses
Just wondering if anyone has site details for Irish Lady's tresses on the Scottish Mainland and of their flowering status. A trip to Ireland would not be possible at the moment but we are aware in general terms of 3 possible small sites in Inverness-shire. A PM would be most helpful.
Many thanks.
Martin and Elaine
Just wondering if anyone has site details for Irish Lady's tresses on the Scottish Mainland and of their flowering status. A trip to Ireland would not be possible at the moment but we are aware in general terms of 3 possible small sites in Inverness-shire. A PM would be most helpful.
Many thanks.
Martin and Elaine
Could anyone PM me with directions for NLH at Warburg please? Had a wander around last night when passing through but the site is massive and I only found one BLH. The visitor centre was closed by the time I got there.
My Glos sites for NLH are looking rather precarious this year, with only one looking like flowering over two sites where there were 6 or 7 last year.
My Glos sites for NLH are looking rather precarious this year, with only one looking like flowering over two sites where there were 6 or 7 last year.
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muba
Well-known member
Violet Helleborines in Shropshire
We found about 50 flowering spikes of VH in a small area in the Severn Valley today. All had at least the lower flowers wide open.
Drew a blank in the Wyre Forest, but another 6 all still in bud on Wenlock Edge.
Photography in woodland proved more tricky than usual
We found about 50 flowering spikes of VH in a small area in the Severn Valley today. All had at least the lower flowers wide open.
Drew a blank in the Wyre Forest, but another 6 all still in bud on Wenlock Edge.
Photography in woodland proved more tricky than usual
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Irish Lady's tresses
Very many thanks to those who have supplied information privately about sites for Romanzoffiana in Western Scotland. We are hoping to go up for a short break sometime in the next 10 days or so. Because populations are small and rather isolated it would be very helpful to have additional sites to check to increase the likelihood of seeing some plants in flower and indeed of reporting more generally on the situation with this orchid in its NW Scottish mainland locations. If therefore any others of you are able to supply us with site details or more local information about flowering progress of this species this year, by PM, it would be much appreciated and would enhance the worthwhileness of a very long trip!
Many thanks.
Martin and Elaine
Very many thanks to those who have supplied information privately about sites for Romanzoffiana in Western Scotland. We are hoping to go up for a short break sometime in the next 10 days or so. Because populations are small and rather isolated it would be very helpful to have additional sites to check to increase the likelihood of seeing some plants in flower and indeed of reporting more generally on the situation with this orchid in its NW Scottish mainland locations. If therefore any others of you are able to supply us with site details or more local information about flowering progress of this species this year, by PM, it would be much appreciated and would enhance the worthwhileness of a very long trip!
Many thanks.
Martin and Elaine
JCL
Well-known member
Going there today, so may be able to help later...
Ghostly Vision
Well-known member
Just about beat the rain today at a Violet helleborine site near Droitwich, Worcs, where last year there was a lovely plant of the var rosea. Unfortunately it has not come up this year, although others (normal ones, not rosea) have.
There was an area cleared for Butterflies last year which still had VH growing in it, out in the open, giving a rare opportunity to photograph the species with some decent light. Unfortunately, regrowth has happened rapidly so the area is impenetrable beause of thick bramble. As such, numbers are down this year, but it is a good site, so only a matter of time before they come back in better numbers again
Most were in bud still, but some were well open. This coming week is going to be the best for this species I think.
Sean
There was an area cleared for Butterflies last year which still had VH growing in it, out in the open, giving a rare opportunity to photograph the species with some decent light. Unfortunately, regrowth has happened rapidly so the area is impenetrable beause of thick bramble. As such, numbers are down this year, but it is a good site, so only a matter of time before they come back in better numbers again
Most were in bud still, but some were well open. This coming week is going to be the best for this species I think.
Sean
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leptochila
Well-known member
JCL
Well-known member
Warburg today. 7 BLH largely in scrub and light woodland on open chalk side of reserve. One autumn gentian in bud. On the main 'cage ridge' all flowering NLH had gone well over; we were way too late! A bit further on most o the violet helleborines were in bud but there was one excellent uncaged plant pathsside. A few m away what most present thought was a BLH x V hybrid with two stems in fine nick.
At bix bottom seven GFH inc one robust plant with largely open flowers and c25 yellow bird's nest.
Very dry leaf litter and topsoil every where we tried unfortunately
At bix bottom seven GFH inc one robust plant with largely open flowers and c25 yellow bird's nest.
Very dry leaf litter and topsoil every where we tried unfortunately
Ghostly Vision
Well-known member
Yes despite it being almost dark when I got there, I can confirm that NLH at Warburg are all but done for this year. Only found 1 VH as, by the time I got to that end of the path it actually was dark! There is one in a cage right next to the path still completely in bud. Might have to return to have a look at the hybrid later this week!
Luckily the NLH in Glos are just coming into flower this weekend and I was able to get some good shots.
Ghostly Vision
Well-known member
James 790411 said:
Cheers james
Yes, to me the plant is a hybrid. Very exciting!
Sean
Aston Rowant NNR
...and still a few frog orchids out and in good condition this morning at one of the locations
...and still a few frog orchids out and in good condition this morning at one of the locations
JCL
Well-known member
A few pics (I'd already shared with Sean, hence his comment).
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Alyn Waters
Thanks to information received I visited Alyn Waters last Thursday, after seeing the photos and hearing the comments from other forum members I wasn't at all sure exactly what I would find.
The Green-flowered helleborine were the first surprise because they were noticeably different to the few I usually see each year in the Cotswolds. In an earlier post I expressed doubt that the photos posted by Jeff in post 932 were both Green-flowered, sorry Jeff, you were absolutely right, as of course was Mike. The plants were undoubtedly Green-flowered with irregular cilla and the purple wash on the outside of the sepals was quite common. As far as variation identification I was only able to find pendula/vectensis which I usually lump together. That obviously doesn't mean that other variations are not there, it only means that I failed to find them.
Broad-leaved were there and not unusual.
Large numbers of Dune helleborine were found, not being too familiar with dunensis I checked Harrop's before I went and was very surprised that the plants I was looking at did not have the hairy ovaries I was expecting to see.
Since visiting Alyn Waters I have looked at Dune Helleborine at a number of sites on the Sefton coast, not a hairy ovary was found. The Sefton plants were very similar to the Alyn Waters plants.
Hybrids? I failed to find anything outside of what I thought could be the normal variation of the species, but many of the plants were well past their best and in the few hours I was there I only looked at a tiny proportion of the plants.
Alan
Thanks to information received I visited Alyn Waters last Thursday, after seeing the photos and hearing the comments from other forum members I wasn't at all sure exactly what I would find.
The Green-flowered helleborine were the first surprise because they were noticeably different to the few I usually see each year in the Cotswolds. In an earlier post I expressed doubt that the photos posted by Jeff in post 932 were both Green-flowered, sorry Jeff, you were absolutely right, as of course was Mike. The plants were undoubtedly Green-flowered with irregular cilla and the purple wash on the outside of the sepals was quite common. As far as variation identification I was only able to find pendula/vectensis which I usually lump together. That obviously doesn't mean that other variations are not there, it only means that I failed to find them.
Broad-leaved were there and not unusual.
Large numbers of Dune helleborine were found, not being too familiar with dunensis I checked Harrop's before I went and was very surprised that the plants I was looking at did not have the hairy ovaries I was expecting to see.
Since visiting Alyn Waters I have looked at Dune Helleborine at a number of sites on the Sefton coast, not a hairy ovary was found. The Sefton plants were very similar to the Alyn Waters plants.
Hybrids? I failed to find anything outside of what I thought could be the normal variation of the species, but many of the plants were well past their best and in the few hours I was there I only looked at a tiny proportion of the plants.
Alan
Ghostly Vision
Well-known member
Hi Alan
The sheer number of plants at Alyn means visitors often come back with different interpretations based on the selection of plants they see, what condition they are in etc.
I have to admit to being wrong in so quickly dismissing the plant in previous posts so readily as a hybrid. One of the reasons for my theory was the pinkish wash on the upper surface of the sepals.
Clearly my memory of this feature was clouded, as Harrap demonstrates.
That said, my experience of AWCP is somewhat different to yours, with a number of anomalous plants - and that was only the ones I picked out of the masses. When I visit there I wish I could look at every plant so closely.
The other issue is that things definitely change year on year: in 2011 plants that looked like dunensis consistently showed full allogamy, whereas this year there was almost no evidence of that. That year also, the GFH and BLH were much more obvious and discreet in their morphology. This year I struggled, in the section I explored, to find a single plant that showed all - or even most - of the features of BLH.
Weird that our experiences on one of the more obvious species differ so much.
Hope I'm right about that bloody Warburg plant now!!!
Sean
rmielcarek
Well-known member
Sean
What basis are you using for the Warburg plant being x schulzei?
Just looked up my notes and I've had problems with trying to identify this hybrid before so I'm interested in your thinking,
To me the flowers look quite Violet like, albeit a rather lax inflorescence, but those very dark bosses on the lip are quite unusual I must say.
The leaf doesn't look that broad and rounded - did anyone notice how the leaves felt, eg stiff, ribbed, downy or hairless?
Rich M
