• ABOUT
  • BIRDING 2018
  • Birding 2019
  • BLOG POSTS
  • Butterflies 2018
  • Resources

earthstar

~ a celebration of nature

earthstar

Tag Archives: native orchids

An opulence of orchids

24 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British orchids, British wildflowers, Broad-leaved helleborine, Epipactis helleborine, native orchids, orchid

I took these photos of Broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) ten days ago, on 13 July, and even then I had expected them to have shrivelled in the sweltering heat. Now, after the heatwave, I imagine they will have wilted, drooped, possibly died off completely but I will go back soon to check on them as they have such lovely flowers.

220724 broad-leaved helleborine

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Bees are buzzing

29 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bee orchid, British orchids, native orchids, orchid

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.

220629 bee orchids

Like this:

Like Loading...

Thousands of Pyramidal orchids

26 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

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.

220626 pyramidal orchids

Like this:

Like Loading...

O is for orchid

20 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British orchids, British wildflowers, Native British orchid, native orchids, orchids

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!

211220 autumn lady's-tresses
211220 bee orchid
211220 broad-leaved helleborine
211220 common spotted
211220 early purple
211220 Heath spotted
211220 marsh helleborine
211220 pyramidal
211220 southern marsh

Like this:

Like Loading...

Spiralling orchids

05 Sunday Sep 2021

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

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).

210905 autumn lady's-tresses (1)

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.

210905 autumn lady's-tresses (2)
210905 autumn lady's-tresses (3)

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.

210905 autumn lady's-tresses (4)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Marsh helleborines

07 Wednesday Jul 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British orchids, Epipactis palustris, Marsh helleborine, native orchids

As their current conservation status in Britain is rated amber, meaning they are vulnerable and near-threatened, I feel privileged to have within easy travelling distance a large colony of Marsh helleborines (Epipactis palustris).

210707 marsh helleborine (1)

And, as our rainfall levels in Wales during May were the highest recorded since records began in 1862, this has been a very good year for a plant that thrives in the wet – hence, the ‘Marsh’ in its name.

210707 marsh helleborine (2)
210707 marsh helleborine (3)

These are low-growing orchids, no more than a foot in height, but it is well worth getting down to their level to appreciate more fully the elegant and delicate beauty of their flowers. To my fanciful eye, they sometimes resemble a woman dancing, her frilly white petticoats swirling about her. At other times, I see a white blouse, with an extravagant ruffle down the front, like the jabot worn by some judges. What do you see?

210707 marsh helleborine (4)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Heath spotted-orchids

04 Sunday Jul 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Aberbargoed Grasslands, British orchids, British wildflowers, Dactylorhiza maculata, Heath spotted-orchid, native orchids

From the often-boggy, mostly acid grasslands at Aberbargoed direct to your screens, this week’s native British orchid is the appropriately named Heath spotted-orchid (remember, the spotted part of that name refers to the marks on its leaves, not its petals). Its scientific name is Dactylorhiza maculata, which the Plantlife website explains as follows: ‘The genus name Dactylorhiza is formed from the Greek words daktylos meaning finger and rhiza meaning root’ – so, this orchid has a multi-fingered root, rather than a single tuber. And maculata means spotted – those leaves.

210704 Heath spotted-orchid (1)

As you can see from the flower spikes below, this is another orchid with some variation in both its colours, which range from white through pink to pale purple, and its markings, which, though they look spotted from a distance, actually have various combinations of streaks and little loops. The shape of the petals is also distinctive, the lower one in particular is less deeply lobed than, for example, the Common spotted-orchid, which the Heath spotted does superficially resemble.

210704 Heath spotted-orchid (2)
210704 Heath spotted-orchid (3)
210704 Heath spotted-orchid (4)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Variation

25 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British orchids, British wildflowers, Common spotted-orchid, Dactylorhiza fuchsia, native orchids

I mentioned recently how I sometimes find orchids difficult to identify. These photos illustrate why. As far as I can work out, as they all had spots on their leaves, and in spite of the variation in colours and patterns, these are all Common spotted-orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsia).

210625 common spotted-orchid (1)
210625 common spotted-orchid (2)
210625 common spotted-orchid (3)
210625 common spotted-orchid (4)
210625 common spotted-orchid (5)
210625 common spotted-orchid (6)
210625 common spotted-orchid (7)
210625 common spotted-orchid (8)
210625 common spotted-orchid (9)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Southern marsh-orchids

16 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British native orchids, British orchids, Dactylorhiza praetermissa, Grangemoor Park, native orchids, Southern Marsh-orchid

Mostly, I only see four species of orchid: Early purple, Common spotted, Bee and Pyramidal, so I find it tricky identifying other species. And the fact that many species of orchid hybridise with each other also complicates the identification picture. So, when a Twitter pal tagged me for help identifying a Southern marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) I couldn’t assist, but decided to try to find some for myself to learn more about their appearance. I found one specimen during a recent visit to Aberbargoed (though not at the grasslands) and several at Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park.

The first thing I realised is that you can’t rely on colour. I found another orchid that looked the perfect shade of purple but didn’t have the right markings – perhaps a hybrid of Southern marsh and Common spotted. The two key things for Southern marsh-orchids, it seems to me, in non-botanist speak, are that the upper petals all reach skywards, like a person holding their arms in the air, and that the larger, lower petal has two cascades of spots that sometimes merge in to one but always fall in the centre of the petal, not spreading outwards. I’m sure there’s a more succinct way to phrase that but I think it’s best we each have our own ways to remember key points.

210616 southern marsh-orchid (2)
210616 southern marsh-orchid (3)
210616 southern marsh-orchid (4)

Like this:

Like Loading...

A fiesta of Bee orchids

06 Sunday Jun 2021

Posted by sconzani in plants, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#NoMowMay, Bee orchid, British wildflowers, Native British orchid, native orchids, urban orchids, wildflowers in road verges

If you live in or around or anywhere near Cardiff and you like orchids, then get yourself down to Ferry Road in Cardiff Bay, because there is a Bee orchid fiesta happening right now, and probably for the next few weeks.

210606 bee orchids (1)

It’s completely free. All you have to do is walk along the pavement on the west side of the road adjacent to the Cardiff Bay Retail Centre and look at the verge, because the good folks who manage the Retail Centre agreed to stop mowing said verge this spring, and the result is an explosion of Bee orchids.

I kid you not! One of the council’s community rangers did a count yesterday and reckons there are over 800 spikes, many of which are not yet in bloom. It is seriously amazing, and just shows what botanic marvels are in our road verges if the councils and corporations would just let them grow.

210606 bee orchids (3)

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts

About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

View Full Profile →

Follow earthstar on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent blog posts

  • Tadpoles March 28, 2023
  • Wheezing in the wind March 27, 2023
  • The Baccy plant March 26, 2023
  • Shieldbugs are go! March 25, 2023
  • First winter Little gull March 24, 2023

From the archives

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

COPYRIGHT

Unless otherwise acknowledged, the text and photographs on this blog are my own and are subject to international copyright. Nothing may be downloaded or copied without my permission.

Fellow Earth Stars!

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • earthstar
    • Join 582 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • earthstar
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d bloggers like this: