"This little piggy stayed home .."

Adventures in Orchidaceae pt 6 .. The Lizard Peninsula ..

A cracking weekend spent on the Lizard, Cornwall exploring the richness of its orchids, wildflowers and invertebrates, under the generous and exuberant guidance of The Lizard Naturally.

Time well spent on the Goonhilly, Crousa, and Lizard Downs provided opportunity to enjoy two orchid "lifers" (for me) and in the case of the latter site, possibly adding two new orchid species to the sites existing flora list? Along the way we also found the numerous hybrids which occur where individual species overlap their ranges.

Starting with the Goonhilly Downs and Traboe Cross:

Early marsh-orchid
(Dactylorhiza incarnata var. incarnata)

Heath fragrant-orchid (Gymnadenia borealis)

Heath spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata)

Heath spotted-orchid x Heath fragrant-orchid
X Dactylodenia evansii

Dropping south to Crousa Down, we re-encountered Early marsh-orchid var. incarnata in both its purple and white forms:

Early marsh-orchids, Crousa Down

Heath spotted-orchid x Early marsh-orchid
Dactylorhiza x carnea

Crousa Down also had an awful lot of Royal fern (Osmunda Regalis) going on - a fern I think I have only ever seen elsewhere as single plants?

Another plant, Petty whin (Genista anglica) - I'm not sure I have knowingly encountered before? If I have seen it previously, I had certainly forgotten about it.

Royal fern

Petty whin

Today, following the compulsory sea-watch from Lizard Point; and in between the cooking time intervals of the Sunday Roast we headed to a private site on the Lizard Downs.

Having been told it was "my job to count the orchids" it quickly became apparent that this was a set-up!

The site was literally covered in orchids, with the shorter turf heaving with Heath spotted-orchids, boggling amounts - and then we hit the flushes of Southern marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

In the orchid interzone we found numerous hydrids - some of which were exhibiting exhausting amounts of "hybrid vigour"!

Heath spotted-orchids, Lizard Downs

Southern marsh-orchid, Lizard Downs

Heath spotted-orchid x Southern marsh-orchid
Dactylorhiza x hallii

After much jaw-dropping perambulation we also stumbled across singles of Early marsh-orchid and Heath fragrant-orchid, both of which are to the best of our knowledge, first records for the site.

Early marsh-orchid, Lizard Downs

Heath fragrant-orchid, Lizard Downs

It was a stunning hour's distraction, all the sweeter knowing that back home the chicken was roasting in it's garlic-enfused juices.

I was still making hasty notes to capture the detail of the weekend's exploration, as Sunday lunch was served.

Adventures in Orchidaceae pt 5 .. Royal Jelly ..

Only a single spike of bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) has come into flower in the garden, despite a promising count of 14 rosettes earlier in the spring.

Addendum

A second bee orchid was found in flwr on the 6th July 2021

Grass Vetchling (Lathyrus nissolia L.) and an Orchid

Grass vetchling

Common-spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

Grass vetchling was the highlight of a dry grassland survey in West Sussex.

Adventures in Orchidaceae pt 4 .. A Call to Arms ..

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?

the uncaged Man

Common twayblade

Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) was also seen at the site.

Common spotted orchid

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.

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.

Bird's nest orchid