Sunday 9 June 2019

Long Walks For Tiny Treasures

If you visit a Nature Reserve and are disappointed to find nothing of great interest, there may be one or two reasons. Either you're not looking hard enough or, more likely, you're there at the wrong time of year. In order to negate these possibilities I've been walking to as many reserves as I can this year. These are the results so far.

Green-Winged Orchid



These pretty little orchids are in serious decline and can only be found in a few scattered places. They need traditionally managed meadows to survive and can not tolerate any chemical intervention, either fertilizers or pesticides, which modern farming relies upon. It's only through historical anomalies that such unimproved grassland has survived and most of the sites are managed by various wildlife trusts.



It differs from the more widespread Early Purple Orchid in that it has "wings" which are striped with narrow greenish or purple parallel veins which you can clearly see in the close-up photo above. You also see occasional pink flowered Green-Winged Orchids and I've seen photos of white flowers too.


Fly Orchid



This tiny orchid is one that you could easily miss unless you know exactly where to look. Although they look like little flies what they are trying to attract are digger wasps, and their fragrance apparently imitates the pheromones of that insect. The wasp then comes in and attempts to mate with the flowers passing pollen from one plant to another. All of which suits the flower but must be both frustrating and embarrassing for the male wasp!



That's the top of my index finger on the left to give you some idea of how insignificant the Fly Orchid actually is. The plants I saw were no more than 2½ inches (4 cm) tall, though they can grow much taller.


Field Fleawort



These are also easy to pass by as they look similar to a lot of other more common wildflowers. Again it is a plant which is in rapid decline as it needs traditionally managed grasslands. However it is also declining in some places where naturalists are trying to do everything possible to conserve it, which is puzzling and worrying.


White Helleborine



This is a handsome plant of beech woodlands on chalky soil. It ought to be easy enough to see but somehow its pale colours fade away into the dappled shade.



They never seem to open up fully so you never get the chance to appreciate that they are actually one of the more impressive members of the orchid family.


Clustered Bellflower



Another plant of chalk grassland and one that always causes a second or two of excitement until you realise that it's not a rare gentian but Clustered Bellflower. Never mind, by any name it's just as beautiful.

Twayblade



This rather plain, greenish flower, on the other hand and despite appearances, is actually an orchid. It gets its name from the two leaves at its base. It grows in considerable numbers in a meadow just a mile or two from home. 


Burnt-Tip Orchid



This is another small orchid, but it needs a bit more effort for me to get to the only place that it grows in this area. Although the tip can appear almost black on some plants (hence the name) this one looked more like some blackcurrant juice had been splashed on it. They grow in rather unpromising sites often on hilltops where there are thin soils over chalk. Like most of the plants here, it's competition from other plants that prevents it being more widespread.




Take care.


24 comments:

  1. Fascinating - lovely flowers. Thank you John.

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  2. beautiful to see them in nature!

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  3. Gorgeous selection of wild orchids - I have several different ones growing in the garden which arrive of their own freewill from the Common lying just over the wall from us. I have lots of the Common Spotted Orchids, White Helleborine, and also the Early Purple ones. The Bee Orchid grows on the Common but sadly hasn't deigned to visit as yet, however, I live in hope.

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  4. An interesting discourse and an introduction to flowers previously unfamiliar to me. It is sad to contemplate that few patches of wild country still survive.

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  5. Wildflower beauty at its best. Great photos!

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  6. Such beautiful wild flowers. The effort of going to find them, then bending into their territory to capture their photos is much appreciated. I remember walking where wild-fower photographers had little uni-pods so they could place their heavily lensed cameras just right to capture beautiful photos.

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  7. The variety of plants in the world is astounding, and most of them grow from a little brown seed. Real miracles. It's always exciting to find an unusual and/or rare one. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. In the case of orchids it's a very little seed, they are more like dust than seeds.

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  8. Great pictures of some beautiful plants!

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  9. Love seeing the flowers blooming there. When I look at the Fly Orchid I see a woman with her arms raised and wearing a long flowing skirt. It's beautiful!

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  10. John - all I can say really is that, as usual, you keep your eyes open for the treasures. Thank you for today's lot.

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  11. Nature's treasures. Beautiful.

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  12. I so enjoyed these...the first orchid looked like hovering angels for sure.

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  13. I've learnt so much from your post today, some plants and flowers I'd never seen before. All the orchids are wonderful especially the gren winged one I'm also quite taken with the white helleborine,I'd never heard of it before:)

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  14. The fly orchid is an extraordinary sight John as for the many types of flowers you spotted check my comment last post. You don't miss much 😉

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  15. Flowers are known for their obvious beauty but thanks for providing the interesting details of their lives, too. Thank goodness for the nature preserves where plants like the green-winged orchid can survive. Those tiny little fly orchids are aptly named — they really do look like flies (but lovely ones!).

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  16. Native orchids and other native plants, fascinating! I'm always plodding through ditches and crouching on the ground trying to get a better view.

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  17. Nature's beauty sure doesn't disappoint. Beautiful photos, John and thanks for sharing.

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  18. You did well to find all those little flowers. They are so beautiful up close. Sorry to hear some are dying out.

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  19. Thank you for these right time photos taken with careful attention. I imagine your feeling on these fantastic finds, especially when they are too small. I’m interested in the naming and each different face. Thanks to the close-up photo, I could understand why “green-winged” for the apparently purple only orchid.

    Yoko

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  20. So nice to see these photos and to hear the names of all the orchids.

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  21. What a lovely set of photos, especially of the burnt-tip orchid, what a treat.

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  22. You found a good range of species.

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Thanks for taking the time to comment. I'll try to answer any questions via a comment or e-mail within the next day or two (no hard questions, please!).