Sunday 6 June 2021

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

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