Lets Look For Orchids

Most people don't even know that we have orchids growing wild in this country. OK, they're not the spectacular blooms you see in the garden centres, but once you know they're there it can be every bit as addictive to seek them out. 

I'm a bit late to see the earliest ones, but there's bound to be some infiltrating the buttercup meadows of Fulbourn Fen.

Firstly we must walk along this laneway through the trees, most of which are now in full leaf. There's plenty of birdsong, though finding them is another matter.

Then we'll cross a meadow where White Campion blooms brightly. It's a bit too dry for the orchids I think. Then we need to cross the old moat....

Actually there is a shorter route, but I like this path and I thought you might like to see all that remains of the moat which once surrounded an old manor house.

Then it's orchids, orchids, orchids.....

Most of these are, I think, Southern Marsh Orchids, though there might be a Common Spotted Orchid or two among them. And that's a Twayblade, second from the right and not looking particularly impressive. Twayblade is an orchid too.

There didn't seem to be quite as many blooms as there were last year at this time. Still an impressive show though.

There's something about this crazily leaning tree, the narrow boardwalk and the Yellow Flags or Wild Iris that always demands that I stop to take some photos.

We're out of the nature reserve now and heading towards Fleam Dyke, which is only a short walk away.

That's the end of the Dyke, but this mighty earthwork runs for at least 3 miles (5km) across the Cambridgeshire countryside. The digging of the ditch and piling up of the bank took place between 330 and 610 AD, with several phases of construction.

It's just one of a series of defensive ditches that stretched across the open chalk lands, from the dense woods in the south, to the swampy Fens in the north. The exact history remains a mystery - it may have been to defend a territory from attack, or else to control the trade routes across the country. 

There's a path that traverses the full length of the bank and lets you see down into the deep dyke alongside - or at least it would if it were not full of trees and bushes!

In my memory the bank was also more open some years ago with more space for wild flowers, though I did find a few common blooms like the Goat's Beard above. It's the British equivalent of the Mediterranean Salsify that I showed you a few weeks ago.

The top of the rampart does however give good views across the agricultural land to the west. And there's some of that pinkish hawthorn blossom once again. After a while we decided to turn back towards Fulbourn Fen once more.

Couldn't resist a few more flower pics.

One of those spectacular Flags growing down by the boardwalk.

Then it was time to leave the best of the orchid meadows and go across the cattle pastures, past the lovely old oak trees, through the wood (now full of ferocious wild animals and blood-thirsty pirates - or possibly just some imaginative 10-year-olds) and back to where we'd parked the car.

Take care.