Adventures in Orchidaceae pt 10 .. Fairmile Bottom, West Sussex

It's been a while since I enjoyed a "Big Day Out" looking for orchids. However, with R staying over, and him not being sure he had ever seen a Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifora)? It was a good excuse for the three of us to head into West Sussex to a site I know fairly well, and see what orchid species we could find.

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Since I last visited Fairmile Bottom, there has been some ongoing work to reduce the scrub and trees on the main grassland - with the insidious Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) and birch (Betula sp.) encroachment being targeted in particular.

This recent clearance seriously affected my "muscle memory" of the site and where certain orchid species might be found, but after 20mins or so of wandering in vain, I finally tripped over a small colony of Frog Orchid (Dactylorhiza viridis), along with a cracking example of what I thought was a strong candidate for Dactylorhiza x mixtum the hybrid of Frog Orchid and Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

Having forgotten to bring my well thumbed copy of Britain's Orchids along with me, I had to wait until we got home to review the find. Having checked the literature, which only helped to add a level of doubt to my identification, I was chuffed to have the hybrid confirmed by one the books authors Sean Cole, via the Native Orchids of Britain and Ireland, Facebook Group. We are certainly blessed to live in an age where access to natural history experts has perhaps never been easier, which to my mind, is the main reason I remain on certain social media platforms!

Whilst R and A spent more time with the Frogs I headed uphil for Fly Orchid, of which I duly found a handful or so, along with several more Frog Orchid, and a Common Twayblade (Neottia ovata). The Fly Orchid did not seem as abundant as I remember them, perhaps suppressed by an encroachmant of Dogwood and Old Man's Beard (Clematis vitalba)?

Frog Orchids

Common Spotted-orchid

Heading to the other end of the grassland we searched for Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), but I could not find any, although I turned up a few potential contenders for Dactylorhiza x grandis the hybrid Common Spotted-orchid x Southern Marsh Orchid? Having stopped to look at another Common Twayblade, R noticed a Southern Marsh Orchid rosette about a foot beyond it!

Dactylorhiza x grandis

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)

Common Spotted-orchid

Dactylorhiza x grandis (flwr and leaf detail)

Southern Marsh Orchid

Hoverfly Hunt #1 - New Forest

R and I went to Denny Woods this morning, to track down one of the rarer hoverflies in the UK - Caliprobola speciosa. R had downloaded the location details from iRecord, so we knew where to head for. The car park at Shatterford was closed for the breeding bird season, so we parked at Matley and walked in from there.

Once we got to the woodland clearing with the standing deadwood beech - it did not take long to connect with our target species, and what a splendid mini-beast it is!

Caliprobola speciosa

Beech (Fagus sylvatica) dead wood habitat

We spent a couple of hours in the clearing, but only managed to track down two individuals despite the amount of suitable habitat present. Both appeared to be territorial, and faithful to the trees on which they were found? Despite high numbers of other hoverfly species present, they were also fairly easy to identify in flight once you got your eye in, as they had the habit of flying with their hind legs hanging down.

in flight with hind legs trailing

Caliprobola speciosa (second individual)

dead wood features in the woodland clearing

Wasp Beetle (Clytus arietis)

Black-headed Cardinal Beetle
(Pyrochroa coccinea)