Dr.Boletus
Well-known member
Over the years, I have taken a proactive interest in orchids which I could find in the wild in the UK. It began with local orchids in 2020, and then continued with me finding the UK's rarest orchid, and identifying what it actually was.
In 2021, aside from seeing some local orchids which I liked, I made a trip to a Suffolk woodland in May to see one of the UK's rarest orchids. Now confined to 3 sites, and with this one holding 95% of the UK's population, the military orchid is absolutely stunning, but rather small when you find it. In 2020/21, an experimental plot was made near the main reserve, which the orchids immediately colonised. That was one of the last images I ever took with my old phone, which was surprisingly nice considering its age.
I also did a trip to see the lizard orchids at Devil's Dyke, perhaps the best area I know of for this interesting orchid, the largest in the UK if the giant orchid is not considered. Beautiful, majestic orchids, but, on a hot summer day, the stench from these orchids was so vile and intense that it lingered in my nose for hours.
I was more active in 2022, after I had been planning to see one specific orchid for about a year. That was the greater tongue orchid, made famous by a massive colony lurking somewhere in Essex and which was recently admitted to the British list as Critically Endangered, I suspect, because of this colony, which has spread by vegetative propagation. It is a tremendous and interesting orchid colony, with over a hundred flowering spikes crammed into a single square meter of overgrown field. I found it easily, perhaps even too easily.
Another critically endangered orchid I saw, the white marsh orchid (the ochroleuca variant), is now down to less than 50 plants in the UK, confined to only 3 sites in the UK now. It is one of the country's most threatened orchids, and reintroduction schemes are trying to increase their numbers here. Other orchids also occur at this reserve in Suffolk, such as marsh helleborine and marsh fragrant-orchid, but this is by far the best thing that occurs there, even though it isn't quite that easy to find.
Out of the common orchids, the one that interested me the most is the chalk fragrant-orchid. I saw the rarer marsh fragrant-orchid as well later, but the chalk variant, I felt, was prettier and smelled nicer. It was at Devil's Dyke on a rainy day. Despite a swarm of lizards, there was just one lonely Gymnadenia on the embankment sides.
Another rare orchid I saw that year was the fen orchid, the location for which I found after some dedicated searches. Searching for a tiny orchid on a swamp with unstable ground was interesting, and it took me 2 and a half hours to find them. what an unusual orchid, pretty and interesting. I've seen a lot of photos that show the flowers as green from here, but the ones I saw had visible pale-yellow flowers.
There were also extremely beautiful marsh helleborines there.
And, of course, the UK's rarest orchid. The location was secret for a long time to me, before I eventually figured out where it was. Before I visited, a lot of people thought it was the small-flowered tongue orchid, but people began doubting when I visited. I took some measurements when I did visit, identifying the orchid as Serapias bergonii, the lax-flowered tongue orchid, a species normally restricted to the Mediterranean. There is just one plant in the UK right now, the second was damaged by people not looking where they were going, and wilted soon after. For something that exciting, it isn't that eye-catching.
That's my orchid list so far. For 2023, I plan on doing something extra special. I don't really have a chance with ghost orchid unless I look for it in another country, but I do hope to visit a famous estate and see the reintroduced lady's slipper orchid there, perhaps the most beautiful and majestic orchid in the UK.
In 2021, aside from seeing some local orchids which I liked, I made a trip to a Suffolk woodland in May to see one of the UK's rarest orchids. Now confined to 3 sites, and with this one holding 95% of the UK's population, the military orchid is absolutely stunning, but rather small when you find it. In 2020/21, an experimental plot was made near the main reserve, which the orchids immediately colonised. That was one of the last images I ever took with my old phone, which was surprisingly nice considering its age.
I also did a trip to see the lizard orchids at Devil's Dyke, perhaps the best area I know of for this interesting orchid, the largest in the UK if the giant orchid is not considered. Beautiful, majestic orchids, but, on a hot summer day, the stench from these orchids was so vile and intense that it lingered in my nose for hours.
I was more active in 2022, after I had been planning to see one specific orchid for about a year. That was the greater tongue orchid, made famous by a massive colony lurking somewhere in Essex and which was recently admitted to the British list as Critically Endangered, I suspect, because of this colony, which has spread by vegetative propagation. It is a tremendous and interesting orchid colony, with over a hundred flowering spikes crammed into a single square meter of overgrown field. I found it easily, perhaps even too easily.
Another critically endangered orchid I saw, the white marsh orchid (the ochroleuca variant), is now down to less than 50 plants in the UK, confined to only 3 sites in the UK now. It is one of the country's most threatened orchids, and reintroduction schemes are trying to increase their numbers here. Other orchids also occur at this reserve in Suffolk, such as marsh helleborine and marsh fragrant-orchid, but this is by far the best thing that occurs there, even though it isn't quite that easy to find.
Out of the common orchids, the one that interested me the most is the chalk fragrant-orchid. I saw the rarer marsh fragrant-orchid as well later, but the chalk variant, I felt, was prettier and smelled nicer. It was at Devil's Dyke on a rainy day. Despite a swarm of lizards, there was just one lonely Gymnadenia on the embankment sides.
Another rare orchid I saw that year was the fen orchid, the location for which I found after some dedicated searches. Searching for a tiny orchid on a swamp with unstable ground was interesting, and it took me 2 and a half hours to find them. what an unusual orchid, pretty and interesting. I've seen a lot of photos that show the flowers as green from here, but the ones I saw had visible pale-yellow flowers.
There were also extremely beautiful marsh helleborines there.
And, of course, the UK's rarest orchid. The location was secret for a long time to me, before I eventually figured out where it was. Before I visited, a lot of people thought it was the small-flowered tongue orchid, but people began doubting when I visited. I took some measurements when I did visit, identifying the orchid as Serapias bergonii, the lax-flowered tongue orchid, a species normally restricted to the Mediterranean. There is just one plant in the UK right now, the second was damaged by people not looking where they were going, and wilted soon after. For something that exciting, it isn't that eye-catching.
That's my orchid list so far. For 2023, I plan on doing something extra special. I don't really have a chance with ghost orchid unless I look for it in another country, but I do hope to visit a famous estate and see the reintroduced lady's slipper orchid there, perhaps the most beautiful and majestic orchid in the UK.
