Tuesday 7 June 2022

Flowers Of Fulbourn Fen

If you want to slip out of the back door of the twenty-first century and into a calmer, less frantic world, you can do no better than to seek out one of the nature reserves run by the Wildlife Trusts.



They describe themselves as a grassroots movement that believes that we need nature and it needs us. They have 870,000 members, 32,500 volunteers and look after some 2,300 nature reserves across the country. Fulbourn Fen, just a few miles from home, is one of them.



It's fairly typical in that it has just a few parking spaces at the end of a lane and nothing more to welcome you than an information board. This one points out a few things you might see, tells you that the woods were planted 150 years ago, gives you a rough map of the reserve and then lets you get on with it. Perfect.



You might find something as small as Dog Roses growing wild in the hedgerows...



.....or grand oaks standing aloof in the meadows (these must be older than the planted woodland).



Or you might follow the narrow boardwalk across some of the wetter areas. These are what are referred to as "fen", though they are only tiny compared to the 1,500 square miles (3,900 km²) of fenland further north. But fenland they are, in that they are seasonally flooded land, with slightly alkaline water which has drained from the chalk hills to the south.



Wild iris or yellow flag like the wetter areas.



If you could magick away a few strands of barbed wire and the occasional metal gate you could easily dream yourself back into the distant past.



Here's a little hoverfly visiting the flowers of Yellow Rattle. It gets its name from its rattling seed pods, but of far more importance is its ability to parasitise the roots of grasses. Farmers may dislike this behaviour, but naturalists love it, because where the grass is less dense it allows other plants to grow.



Plants like these wild orchids. There are two sorts of Orchid flowering here at the moment: Common Spotted Orchids and Southern Marsh Orchids.



Sorting them out is not as easy as you might think. When it comes to these Orchids you can't go by the colour at all. Everything about them is variable. What's more the two species can hybridise too. 



There was a time when I used to worry my head about such things, get down on my hands and knees and peer at them from a few inches away. Even then there were frequently insoluble puzzles.



Then one day I saw the light: it really doesn't matter all that much to me. So now I enjoy them primarily for their rare beauty.



Besides, there are more interesting things to consider when it comes to Orchids. They are some of the most seriously weird plants that we have. Some have flowers that mimic bees or flies - that's been explained as an adaptation to persuade those insects to attempt to mate with the flowers and thus pollinate them. But then there's one that has flowers that look a lot like lizards! Imaginative people who look closely at the flowers have seen resemblances to little men, ladies, soldiers and even frogs. And they have some very odd fragrances too - everything from vanilla to goats! 



Then there are some species of Orchid that only flower every ten years or so. Others have a habit of springing up, completely unexpectedly in all kinds of unlikely places. The very name "orchid" derives from the word "testicle", which the tubers are said to resemble (something which so shocked John Ruskin, incidentally, that he wanted to change their name). You'd expect there to be a lot of folklore and stories about Orchids.


Richard Mabey's masterful book Flora Britannica collected just such material about every wild flower on these islands. But about the orchid: nothing. That is until modern times when tales of the unexpected appearance of thousands of orchids on road traffic islands and such places quite commonly appear in the newspapers. But in old folksongs where roses, violets, primroses and "daffa-down-dillies" appear with annoying frequency, there is never a mention of any orchids.



The early botanists recorded the various orchids right enough, but it's as though no one else had ever noticed them. And I'd love to know how all that happened (or didn't happen). So plenty for me to think about as I made my way back out through the wood.





Take care.


27 comments:

  1. Where I lived in West Sussex many years ago the driveway to the farm used to have bee orchids growing in the verges, these were very localised and only flowered occasionally, certainly not every year. The similarity between the flowers and real bees was quite extraordinary - at first sight you woul think that there were bees on the plants!

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  2. That's a beautiful area for a walk. I have never seen that many orchids in one area.

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  3. Heading your way tonight across the pond John! Hoping to see lovely scenery on the drive (National Express) down to Devon tomorrow.
    These are such lovely shots - the wild orchids are beautiful.
    Mary -

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    1. By now it should be appropriate to say "Welcome back to England!"

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  4. I don't think I would have thought that those flowers were orchids. Thank you for the close-ups and the education that you gave us. You have the most wonderful areas for walking.

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  5. We do indeed need nature. Rather a lot. Thank you for sharing some of the beauty.

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  6. A delicious post John and I absolutely love photo number 13.

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  7. So beautiful and amazing your walks are. Nature is everywhere and people need to appreciate it and protect it. Love all your flower photos, thanks for sharing!

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  8. A truly beautiful walk there. I love all the flowers blooming right now. All that beauty is the peaceful balance to these times. We breathe it in and are renewed.

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  9. The membership of the Wildlife Trust is staggering, John, as is the number of volunteers. I have Richard Mabey's "Flora Britannica" and I have also the companion volumes "Birds Britannica" and "Bugs Britannica", wonderful books all. The sheer number of orchid species throughout the world is breathtaking, and I am frequently a little puzzled when someone implies they are rare. As always, an entertaining post. It is fun to meander along with you.

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    1. Well, some are very rare in the UK, most notably the Ghost Orchid. If I ever find one of those you'll certainly hear about it. Others, as you imply, are much more common than most people realise.

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  10. Beautiful walk! Such a relaxing place! And yes, we need nature in our lives

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  11. Beautiful shots. A wonderful place.

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  12. Great that many people support leaving some land undeveloped.

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  13. Excellent Orchid images John.
    As you went back to the 20th Century I bet the word Partygate wasn't mentioned anywhere, such relief.!

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  14. Hi John - I 'love' the origin of the name ... what fun - yet the history of the plant is also fascinating ... I guess another wandering plant from Greece north-westwards ... the orchid has a hidden history. What an amazing place to walk in ... lovely to see - thank you - cheers Hilary

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  15. A beautifully informed nature blog John. As for Ruskin, though prudish he loved writing.

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  16. Every blog you put on John gives my head a rest. Exquisite

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  17. Another beautiful walk with you. Those orchids are amazing. Thanks for that really close look at one.

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  18. I hope to remember these things about orchids. This is all so I interesting. Love that big okdcoak tree!

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  19. Thanks for a most enjoyable and enlightening (testicles?) walk with you! Loving the orchids, and the first ones I was ever aware of were worn on the wrist for 9th grade prom! We knew they came from hot houses...no idea where the plants originally were grown!

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  20. What a lovely walk! Wildlife Trust is a great movement and organization, which I think needed in my country, too. There are so many orchid-like plants and quite recently I learned how I can identify an orchid from the flower structure. Now I learned a lot more about orchids. They are so intriguing and mysterious plants.

    Yoko

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  21. The flowers are awesome! Thank you for the beautiful photos. Hugs, Edna B.

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  22. Looks like a magical spot indeed. Does my heart good to know these beautiful reserves exist and have so much support. We do need nature... not sure how much nature needs us (other than to leave it alone and let it thrive!).

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  23. We are members of our local Wildlife Trust and try to visit their sites, although not for a couple of years, except the headquarters a few miles away and a local bluebell wood. Your photos of the Orchids are wonderful, good to see the yellow rattle too:)

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  24. What a beautiful post, illustrated by such wonderful flowers. I can smell the fresh air from here. I still haven't recovered from the desecration of a roadside verge near my home, where once was a large patch of orchids until the council, in their wisdom(?), decided to 'tidy up' the area. They added a stone kerb, mowed and raked the verge and, yes, it looked tidy . . . I waited for several years to see if the orchids would reappear, but they never did.

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