29 Wednesday Jun 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
Yesterday I went for a meander to check how the orchids were doing this year on the Cardiff side of the River Ely. You might remember in early June last year I blogged about the Fiesta of Bee orchids happening along the verges of Ferry Road near Cardiff Bay. I hoped I hadn’t left it too late for this year’s display; the verges are a little more overgrown, the grasses taller, but the Bee orchids are flowering again in their hundreds and look just as amazing.
26 Sunday Jun 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
Tags
British orchids, British wildflowers, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, native orchids, Pyramidal orchid
I learned, earlier this week, that the rangers and volunteers at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park do an annual count of the orchids growing in the east paddock. On Friday 17 June, they counted an amazing 4828 Pyramidal orchids (as well as 5254 Common-spotted and 155 Bee orchids). These are just a few of those splendorous Pyramidals.
19 Sunday Jun 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
Variations on a theme…. Stunning Heath spotted-orchids (Dactylorhiza maculata) from a recent visit to Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR.
05 Sunday Jun 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
The site where I usually see Southern marsh-orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park, has been closed for several months (it’s a former landfill site and the aged infrastructure that manages escaping methane gas and the leaching of contaminated water into the adjacent river is being upgraded). So, it was a thrilling surprise to discover three of these beauties in the damp lower edge of a local meadow where they’ve not been recorded before.
29 Sunday May 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
… seeing my first Bee orchid for 2022!
22 Sunday May 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
It’s amazing what a bit of rain can do. I’ve been watching the rosettes of Common spotted-orchids in various locations over the past week or so as their leaves flesh out and their flower spikes develop but I was still surprised to see this year’s first two plants with open flowers during my morning walk.
They may be common but they are truly glorious, and I can’t wait for the time when the meadows are full of their flowers.
15 Sunday May 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
You could’ve knocked me down with a feather when I spotted these Twayblades (Neottia ovata) during this morning’s walk. I’ve visited this place at least once a month for the last five years, probably more frequently at this time of year to look for butterflies and other insects, yet I’d never noticed these orchids before.
And there were plenty of them – 20, 30, possibly more. Their green colour does mean they blend into the background of other plants but still. It was a lesson, to always pay attention … because just look at the beauty I’ve been missing!
22 Friday Apr 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
I have no fungi to share this Friday so let’s have a floral Friday theme instead. This sublime bloom is my first orchid of the year, an Early-purple (Orchis mascula), one of three surprise finds during a woodland walk on Wednesday.
20 Monday Dec 2021
Posted in flowers, plants, wildflowers
Perhaps O should really be for obsession, as it seems I have a bit of an obsession for orchids: they have featured in no fewer than nine blog posts this year. Early-purple orchids were the first to flower back in May, followed soon afterwards by the Common spotted-orchids, which also featured in a second post in late June about the variation in their colours and markings. Also in June, the Bee orchids showed their jolly faces, and I tried to get to grip with identifying Southern marsh-orchids. In July, more orchid species that like damp places were in the spotlight, first the Heath spotted-orchids of Aberbargoed, followed soon after by Rhoose Quarry’s magnificent Marsh helleborines. The late-summer-blooming Broad-leaved helleborines featured on the first day of August, and the first days of autumn were brightened by the sight of spiralling Autumn lady’s-tresses. What a feast for the senses these flowers are!
05 Sunday Sep 2021
Posted in autumn, wildflowers
Tags
Autumn Lady’s-tresses, autumn-flowering orchid, British orchids, native orchids, orchid, Spiranthes spiralis
A botanical treat I look forward to at this time of year is the final show of native orchids for the year, the delicately formed and perfectly named Autumn lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis).
When I first started visiting Cosmeston Lakes Country Park only one small clump of these little beauties was known but a couple of years ago another much large colony was discovered. I didn’t do an exact count but there were easily 30 stems, many not yet open, and probably more obscured by the other wildflowers.
They grow perilously close to a children’s playground area and are in constant danger of being trampled so let’s hope they survive to bloom another year.
earthstar 
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