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| the caged Man |
The gripping results of an afternoon's orchid hunt, resulted in two “new for us” species, and both to be found within a short striking distance of home.
The idea for this trip was sown at Butser Hill the previous weekend, when a fellow Duke enthusiast told me that he had just come from viewing a small population of Man orchid (Orchis anthrophora). So small a population, that only two rosettes appeared to be present.
Detailed directions to the two plants were kindly shared, which I failed completely to write down. However, I made a mental note to visit today to find them in their first flush of flower.
Arriving on site with only the vaguest memory of locations, A and I were more than a little fortunate to bump into a couple from Reading (with a young boy in tow), who were kind enough to share their written instructions, including a grid reference! Although the latter was only finally revealed, after much fervent but confused searching of up and down slope (when a long should've been thing to do all along!).
The first "man" was in a very sorry state, suffering heavily from it's path-side position - the flowering spike had been broken off leaving a single flower. It would seem that only after the fateful event was the plant caged for its protection - a contraption that made even the simplest of viewing, let alone record shots most difficult.
With grid reference finally at hand, A and I were able to make straight for the second specimen which was a stonker! and to add joy - a common twayblade (Listera ovata) was also found, by the boy. The young lad's boundless inquisitiveness also turned up an alleged rosette which he described as a greater butterfly orchid (Platanthera chlorantha). Of the latter, I will bow to his endless enthusiasm, as I have never properly seen this species as yet?
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| the uncaged Man |
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| Common twayblade |
Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) was also seen at the site.
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| Common spotted orchid |
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| Common blue (Polyommatus icarus) |
In their generosity - the couple also shared with us the location of a sizeable colony of Sword-leaved helleborine (Cephalanthera longifolia) at a second site in the Meon Valley, which had not been on my radar at all.
Arriving at Chappetts Copse, a Hampshire and IOW Wildlife Trust nature reserve, we walked the central woodland path - and took no time at all to find the target species.
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| Sword leaved helleborine in abundance |
Having taken our fill of the helleborines, I tracked down a small group of Bird's nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis) which were flowering in a clearing below the root plate of a windblown tree.
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| Bird's nest orchid |
