2015 UK Orchids (1 Viewer)

[slatts]

Oxford outing

Finally some sun on thursday so I thought I'd belatedly have a look at the vast green wing orchid site at Bernwood Meadow. I wasnt disappointed - usually at this time they would really start to be looking past their best but the thousands of purple beauties were looking right at their best. Some nice colour variations here too from deep purple, purple with white, pink, and white. All really beautiful on a warm and almost cloudless afternoon. All I could hear was a woodpecker drilling away and then my first cuckoo of the year. I used to hear cuckoos all the time from the end of April up to twenty years ago but they must have declined hugely here in the UK. I blame our self- styled "guardians of the countryside " the farmers and their misuse of pesticides among other things. Don't get me started.
On the way back to the car I spotted ten very nice early marsh orchids all in superb condition.

Then off to Asham Meads, another superb site nearby where I was all on my own to see curlews fly in and call in the second meadow. There are more green winged orchids here- a smaller population than Bernwood but a lot of colour variation too. This is a beautiful wild flower meadow at the end of june and into july.

The sun was still up amazingly as I headed off for my last stop at Hartslock and it was still just above the horizon when I climbed up the slope to see how large the hybrid orchid colony has spread. They are still good to see but hurry up , there is one solitary lady orchid in amongst them. The monkeys are in full flower themselves but have declined a lot. They used to be found all over that bank but now reduced to a few places and compared to the large plants at Parkgate they are tiddlers.

White helleborines in the woods are just beginning to flower.

Sunset over the Thames is pretty good too.

Many thanks go to BBOWT for looking after all these sites, they do a fantastic job preserving wildlife in this part of the UK.

 

[Allewes]

Climbed to the Burnt site at Caburn on Wednesday, several hundred specimens out, and I'd certainly say much earlier than usual. Over the previous two years my photo records tell me they were in flower there at the end of the first week of June - but this year there are many going over already - the lower few flowers on some spikes are already brown and shrivelling. I'd say visit within a week if you're planning to go...

I was up there yesterday and there are a lot out, but the best will be over after the bank holiday weekend

 

[Allewes]

Frog Orchids are approaching their best in Denbighshire. We stopped counting at 125 with most in one small area, and probably missed a similar amount. Some nice large examples, and nice variations in colour too.
Could the first picture be var longibracteatum?

Lovely photos of varied plants - love the first and the long bracts on the last. Are they always this early there - we won't see them in sussex for weeks yet!

 

[jeffnsue]

Frog Orchid

Here’s another of those Denbighshire Frogs, also an Early Purple from the same site, I remembered to put the battery in my camera yesterday!

Jeff

 

[Ghostly Vision]

Are these "early " frogs? The ones down south in Hants and Sussex are not at their best until July, and the same for frog colonies I know in Northumberland and Derbyshire.

Frogs in Derbyshire always start flowering in May. They have a long development period and can carry on growing a flowering right into July. I think it is a myth that there are early and late forms. On Aston Rowant they were always out in the middle of June, supporting this theory.

I believe the var "longibracteatum" is also a bit of a myth...there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer as to what length the bracts need to be to qualify. All taller Frogs seems to have some traits of long bractedness. It's just those southern wussie ones that are so tiny they can't raise a decnt sized bract.

IMHO.

 

[ladybee]

Early Purple Perfection

Frogs in Derbyshire always start flowering in May. They have a long development period and can carry on growing a flowering right into July. I think it is a myth that there are early and late forms. On Aston Rowant they were always out in the middle of June, supporting this theory.

I believe the var "longibracteatum" is also a bit of a myth...there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer as to what length the bracts need to be to qualify. All taller Frogs seems to have some traits of long bractedness. It's just those southern wussie ones that are so tiny they can't raise a decnt sized bract.

IMHO.

:-O :-O :-O

Early Purple Orchids absolutely perfect today in their thousands in a Peak District Dale. This was a very pale pink specimen.

 

[muba]

The Frogs in this Denbighshire site do flower early. In 2014 they were in full flower 17th May. Quite a few show longer than usual bracts. This earliness isn't the result of a local climatic phenomena, because the Common Spotteds and Twayblades are only just pushing up flower spikes above ground level. None of my reference books suggest early and late flowering Frogs in the way of the Burnt Orchids, but mid to late May is outside the consensus of flowering time for the species.

Jeff. If you leave the village on the unclassified road to Llanarmon-yn-Iâl road there is a large EPO group on the roadside before you reach the little school. I counted over 150, on the verge and under the blackthorn. They probably stretch all up the hill behind the hedge.

 

[rmielcarek]

Frogs in Derbyshire always start flowering in May. They have a long development period and can carry on growing a flowering right into July. I think it is a myth that there are early and late forms. On Aston Rowant they were always out in the middle of June, supporting this theory.

I believe the var "longibracteatum" is also a bit of a myth...there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer as to what length the bracts need to be to qualify. All taller Frogs seems to have some traits of long bractedness. It's just those southern wussie ones that are so tiny they can't raise a decnt sized bract.

IMHO.

We haven't really got any Frogs locally so I've never looked for particularly early or late flowering examples. However looking through my photos from various Wiltshire sites I can find plants in full flower as early as June 5th and as late as July 25th. Pretty much the same range as in my photos of Burnts (May 21st and July 14th) where again I don't go looking for early or late examples.

Not very scientific I know but it does suggest they either have a very long flowering period or they flower at different times at different sites. Maybe someone who studies them regularly can comment on how long a plant normally flowers for?

As for us southern wusses not having long bracts, this is an example from Wiltshire

Rich M

 

[fearnor]

Hants Fly var. ochroleuca

The var. fly is back again at a Hants reserve and just starting to flower

 

[muba]

Did anybody visit Samphire Hoe for the Early Spiders? If so, when did they flower?

 

[phm33]

Did anybody visit Samphire Hoe for the Early Spiders? If so, when did they flower?

I was there on the 25th of April, and many of the plants were already in flower by that date.

Nearby, at Lydden Downs, the Early Spiders were still flowering yesterday.

 

[Benjamin Ofield]

Military orchids at Homefield wood looking good today with lots of Fly orchids flowering at the same site.

Had another look at the Monkeys at Hartslock they are looking nice as are the hybrids, the lady orchid is past its best now.

Also visited a site in Wiltshire for Burnt orchid plenty in flower with lesser butterfly still in bud.
Had a really good day topped off by my mate flushing a Quail!!!

 

[MarkHows]

Visited a few spots in the last couple of days.

Locally Early Purples just going over, but Green winged at Upwood Meadows were still looking pretty good.


Today I visited Rex Graham there were only a few Military orchids out, still at least a week before they are out in any numbers.

Mark

 

[leptochila]

Frogs in Derbyshire always start flowering in May. They have a long development period and can carry on growing a flowering right into July. I think it is a myth that there are early and late forms. On Aston Rowant they were always out in the middle of June, supporting this theory.

I believe the var "longibracteatum" is also a bit of a myth...there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer as to what length the bracts need to be to qualify. All taller Frogs seems to have some traits of long bractedness. It's just those southern wussie ones that are so tiny they can't raise a decnt sized bract.

IMHO.

I think there are also difficulties in determining whether a Frog is 'in flower' or just gone over because the hood remains intact for such a long period after the column and lip have withered which is hampered by the typically downward-facing flowers.
The main Shropshire site in Pant is known to be especially early flowering. Plants are pretty much over, and I mean ovaries swollen lip shrivelling, by mid-June. They peak in mid-May and I suspect that in a normal year, this would be the case for the plants at the North Wales site. I have photographed Frog orchids in perfect 'just opened' condition with no gone-over plants in sight at Watlington Hill on my may back from photographing Narrow-lipped Helleborines in late July!
I've no doubt that within larger populations, the flowering period is probably quite prolonged but there does seem to be quite significant differences between areas and perhaps habitats.

Mike

 

[fgrsimon]

Anyone have more information about the Cotswold Fly x Bee hybrids described in the January 2015 HOS Journal? Article by Tony Hughes.

PM Me.

 

[James Hunter]

Must have just missed you yesterday Mark!

Goring - over 120 hybrids in full flower and much smaller numbers of Monkey. The single Lady is way past it's best

I thought the display at Homefield was good - it's worth going into the wood to the clearings there - large numbers of plants in full flower and a few still bud

2 Greater Butterfly in bud here and 3 Fly in flower

Beds - 70+ Burnt Tips in flower with a small number still in bud

Also visited an Early Purple site with 70+ plants just past there best and 2 var albas ( one good, one going over

Coupled with some butterflies and birds a great day out!

Cheers

James

 

[Simon1953]

Chappetts Copse, Hants - Sword Leaved Helleborines

I went to Chappetts Copse (Hants & IoW Wildlife Trust reserve) yesterday and was astounded at the show of SLHs. Having seen about a dozen in Sardinia the previous week, at Chappetts we saw literally hundreds, if not thousands; all in excellent condition. They were even growing on the road verge.

Chappetts is just north-east of Bishops Waltham, and on my OS map is called Hen Wood. Access is from the lane wich forms the west boundary of the site.

There were also several Fly orchids, Bird'-nests and C. damasonium - the last just beginning to come into flower.

 

[Simon1953]

Galley Down/Wood, Dundridge, Hampshire - Bird's-nest Orchids

I went here for the first time yesterday having been told of 'hundreds of Bird's-nests'.

I'm not sure we saw 'hundreds' but there were certainly very many (100-200 at a guess) scattered throughout the wood. There were some areas where they were quite thick on the ground, with nice clumps of several spikes. Some were beginning to go over, others just coming into flower. As usual with this species, the slugs had been having a bit of a field-day with some specimens.

There were also a few C. damasoniums and a handful of Twayblades.

 

[Simon1953]

Old Burghclere Limeworks - Fly Orchids

Popped down here this afternoon to see if the Flies are good yet. Quite a few in flower now, but still lots to come - so next weekend or later would be better.

I remember this site as having hundreds of Fly orchids 30 years ago but there seem to be fewer these days...

On the other hand, there are now hundreds of Twayblades. Again, some looking good today but many more to come in the next week or so.

...and 3 or 4 C. damasonium - not yet at their best.

 

[prevell]

Are these "early " frogs? The ones down south in Hants and Sussex are not at their best until July, and the same for frog colonies I know in Northumberland and Derbyshire.

Greetings Slatts!,

There is a small colony of 'Early Frogs' growing in neutral pH soil in Fancott Meadow in Bedfordshire now in full bloom which is always 8 weeks before all the other colonies on chalk downland in the county. Shortly they will be joined by Heath Spotted-orchids. This colony was found by Steve Oakes-Monger of Radlett in the 1970's but he was ignored by the county recorder and Kew. He also recorded Green-winged Orchid which is now extinct there, due also to slovenly civil servants coasting to retirement.

These 'Early Frogs' must be an 'ecotype' similar to the two ecotypes of Marsh Helleborine described by Sell & Murrell in Volume 5 of 'Flora of Great Britain and Ireland'.

I understand that Richard Bateman does not support the concept of ecotypes but I have had the two ecotypes of Epipactis palustris in cultivation in the same containers, the same compost and identical conditions since December 1991. For 24 years they have each displayed the unique unvarying characteristics of all the attributes which define a species or sub-species.

Peter