joannacary
Joanna
thanks Peter
-
BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!
Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
2014 UK Orchids (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter LizandDave
- Start date
thanks Peter
That's interesting Rich, I always thought the lip had to be whole without 'lobbing'. Maybe a plant I saw the other night counts then. I shall have to check back...
Ian
ionh
Well-known member
Last of the summer wine
A visit to College Lake/Pitstone Fen today turned up -
(i) a GFH with a recognizably 'helleborine' flower (albeit requiring an up-and-under shot...)
(ii) a notably big common spot, still in full flower (unlike pretty much all the others on site); scaling off my tripod, it's 74 cm high, with a 19cm flower spike
A visit to College Lake/Pitstone Fen today turned up -
(i) a GFH with a recognizably 'helleborine' flower (albeit requiring an up-and-under shot...)
(ii) a notably big common spot, still in full flower (unlike pretty much all the others on site); scaling off my tripod, it's 74 cm high, with a 19cm flower spike
Attachments
JCL
Well-known member
will have to go back!
CornishExile
rydhsys rag Kernow lemmyn!
That's a shrub!
Bog Orchids now in flower in Shetland on Yell, and also Heath Fragrants on Unst yesterday.
Jon
Attachments
There are always loads of flies at Dune helle sites. Especially midges. They seem to grow at sites which are fly attractive. If you are going to Williamston near Alston where the Dune helles are now perfect take insect repellent as they'll eat you alive if you don't.
Sancta helle on Lindisfarne were excellent last tuesday and will be for a few more days I think. I saw more than 20 plants. Dune helles at Williamston were also great but not peaked, hundreds of plants - a lot more to come here and I'm sure this would be the case for the site at Close House. Creeping Ladies tresses were just fabulous at Cliburn Moss and I 'm sure they will be also excellent at Whinfell forest Center Parcs next to the chalets and dog walks. But although Cliburn is a small site you'll never find the plants unless you look very hard. Or grease my palm with silver. But it'll be much more rewarding than falling over them at whinfell. Or stepping in dogshit. But then again at Whinfell it is the bilberry season and you can scoff up big time on them while changing your macro lenses. Only eat those above dog height though. Great crab sarnies, home made quiche, and fab coffee in the Post Office First Class Food on Lindisfarne. I didn't see another soul in any of the sites. I am sure they are really down on human scrutiny and really need the people on this forum to go and check out these sites more regularly. And bull grey seals are having a four AM noise orgy in the bay. You can hardly sleep. I'll post some photos this week. Not the bull seals, the orchids. Meantime I shall check out an almost forgotten Box Hill site for Violet helle.
Ladle Hill
I've known this site for around 30 years and this isn't the first time its been summer grazed. I attach a couple of pics of the site taken in 1987 which show a pretty tight sward following summer grazing. I have been concerned over the past couple of years that the site was becoming too rank and that there was not enough grazing taking place - albeit I had in mind that it needed winter grazing. Of course, what really knackered much of the site was the winter-feeding that took place in the centre of the hill-fort back in the 1970s.
It should be noted that Natural England does NOT actually manage this site - which is an SSSI and not an NNR (unlike Pewsey Downs). Its owner is a well known writer of West End musicals.
Without doubt we have lost this year's floristic display (and seed source) but hopefully, unless summer grazing becomes a regular occurence, the site will bounce back in future years as it has in the past.
Simon
I've known this site for around 30 years and this isn't the first time its been summer grazed. I attach a couple of pics of the site taken in 1987 which show a pretty tight sward following summer grazing. I have been concerned over the past couple of years that the site was becoming too rank and that there was not enough grazing taking place - albeit I had in mind that it needed winter grazing. Of course, what really knackered much of the site was the winter-feeding that took place in the centre of the hill-fort back in the 1970s.
It should be noted that Natural England does NOT actually manage this site - which is an SSSI and not an NNR (unlike Pewsey Downs). Its owner is a well known writer of West End musicals.
Without doubt we have lost this year's floristic display (and seed source) but hopefully, unless summer grazing becomes a regular occurence, the site will bounce back in future years as it has in the past.
Simon
Attachments
childhood memories
Well-known member
Slatts - just off to work - your descriptions of Lindisfarne has made me extremely jealous and not in the best of moods for the day!!! - know what you mean about Cliburn - took me two days wading about the swamp getting eaten alive before I found any - but it does make you feel good when you finally do get to see them- P
joannacary
Joanna
I needed to contact NE about helleborines in an Oxfordshire wood, and now have the names and email addresses of two people whose responsibility at NE is orchids. Probably not fair to publish their contact details, but if anyone would like them I'll happily PM them.
marsh helleborine & northern marsh orchid lindisfarne
It has been a dry year by all acounts up in the northeast. The ground where the marsh helleborines and northern marsh orchids are on lindisfarne is really dry this year compared to previous years when it has always been very squelchy. Great numbers of plants but the dry conditions and making them go over a lot quicker. Photos from a week ago.
It has been a dry year by all acounts up in the northeast. The ground where the marsh helleborines and northern marsh orchids are on lindisfarne is really dry this year compared to previous years when it has always been very squelchy. Great numbers of plants but the dry conditions and making them go over a lot quicker. Photos from a week ago.
Attachments
dune helleborine williamston
Williamston is a very nice little sandy nature reserve on the South Tyne just north of Alston. Nice to look at but nastily full of midges. I went in the morning for the first time figuring the wee devils might still be snoozing but I was wrong. Insect repellent is a must. I think morning is the best time to come to see the largest colony in the morning sun, but there are many hundreds of plants all over the reserve. Looks like a very good year for them here. They'll be reaching maturity quite soon I would think. Photos from last week.
Williamston is a very nice little sandy nature reserve on the South Tyne just north of Alston. Nice to look at but nastily full of midges. I went in the morning for the first time figuring the wee devils might still be snoozing but I was wrong. Insect repellent is a must. I think morning is the best time to come to see the largest colony in the morning sun, but there are many hundreds of plants all over the reserve. Looks like a very good year for them here. They'll be reaching maturity quite soon I would think. Photos from last week.
Attachments
Last edited:
creeping ladies tresses cliburn moss
Cliburn moss is not so mossy this year. The place usually resembles swampland from Louisiana on a warm afternoon with dark waterfilled pools and acres of very spongy sphagnum. Normally you'll be at least up to your knees in water getting to the CLT site but this year it was just a hop and a skip across very dry ground with many of the pools dried up. The whole place is filled with the aroma of what looks like heath bedstraw which is blanketing the place but which I have not seen here before. The plants are still here and thriving, although it was difficult to find more out of the main colony because everything at ground level is covered with the white bedstraw flowers. There is plenty of life left in these flowers and no doubt at the Whinfell Forest centreparcs site where there are several thousand.
Cliburn moss is not so mossy this year. The place usually resembles swampland from Louisiana on a warm afternoon with dark waterfilled pools and acres of very spongy sphagnum. Normally you'll be at least up to your knees in water getting to the CLT site but this year it was just a hop and a skip across very dry ground with many of the pools dried up. The whole place is filled with the aroma of what looks like heath bedstraw which is blanketing the place but which I have not seen here before. The plants are still here and thriving, although it was difficult to find more out of the main colony because everything at ground level is covered with the white bedstraw flowers. There is plenty of life left in these flowers and no doubt at the Whinfell Forest centreparcs site where there are several thousand.
Attachments
Apologies to Centreparcs here. They don't allow any dogs in the areas where the CLT grow. I realise now that the sh$te I knelt in taking a photo last year must actually have been fox doo doo. There must be plenty of them around that site attracted to the visitor's rubbish.
Users who are viewing this thread
Similar threads
- Gleb Berloff
- Trees, Flowers, Plants and Shrubs
