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

earthstar

~ a celebration of nature

earthstar

Tag Archives: orchid

Orchidelicious

03 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, parks, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Bee orchid, British orchids, Common spotted orchid, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Greater butterfly-orchid, orchid, Southern marsh orchid

180603 orchids at Cosmeston

For day three of #30DaysWild I went searching for orchids at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, and I got lucky. The Common spotted-orchids are blooming in good numbers now, two of the small number of well hidden Greater butterfly-orchids are flowering, I found my first Bee orchid of the season, and I think I found my first Southern marsh-orchid as well. It couldn’t get much better than that!

Common spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

180603 Common spotted orchid (1)

180603 Common spotted orchid (3)
180603 Common spotted orchid (2)

Greater butterfly-orchid (Platanthera chlorantha)

180603 Greater butterfly orchid (1)
180603 Greater butterfly orchid (2)
180603 Greater butterfly orchid (3)
180603 Greater butterfly orchid (4)

Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera)

180603 Bee orchid (2)
180603 Bee orchid (1)

Southern marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) (and Common blue butterfly)

180603 Southern marsh orchid

Like this:

Like Loading...

Autumn Lady’s-tresses

01 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aberthaw Nature Reserve, Autumn Lady’s-tresses, British orchids, orchid, Spiranthes spiralis

On the first calendar day of autumn it seems entirely appropriate to showcase Britain’s tiny autumnal orchid with the perfectly suited name of Autumn Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis).

170901 Autumn lady's tresses (1)
170901 Autumn lady's tresses (2)

Growing up to 20cms (7.8ins) tall but often much smaller, these little beauties can be hard to spot – last week I couldn’t find them at Cosmeston (a friend spotted the first-ever sighting of them there recently) though I managed to spot these at Aberthaw Nature Reserve last Sunday. They are mostly coastal plants because they prefer sandy dunes or calcareous grasslands. In a good year, they can grow in colonies of hundreds, as thickly as grass, often in seaside suburban lawns.

170901 Autumn lady's tresses (3)
170901 Autumn lady's tresses (4)

It’s easy to see where the epithet spiralis comes from: the flowers spiral around the stem as they grow, though you might not guess these were orchids at all until you took a close look at the flowers. Their orchid shape is distinctive but the hairiness of the pure white petals seems a little incongruous. I presume the common name of Lady’s tresses comes from a resemblance to spiralling ringlets.

Like this:

Like Loading...

A triumph of nature

28 Friday Jul 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, parks, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British flora, British native orchids, British orchids, Broad-leaved helleborine, Epipactis helleborine, orchid, terrestrial orchid

These Broad-leaved helleborines (Epipactis helleborine) are a little past their best but I just had to post about them, partly because I love all of Britain’s native orchids and partly because these are survivors. You would usually find these terrestrial orchids growing in clearings or along path edges in forests and woodlands but these particular plants are growing on the edges of a former rubbish tip, now urban park, in Cardiff. Despite humans dumping thousands of tons of rubbish on their habitat, then covering that over with imported rocks and soil, laying tarmac paths and planting cultivated plants like cotoneaster, these helleborines have somehow survived. The idea of that made my day!

170728 Broad-leaved helleborine (4)
170728 Broad-leaved helleborine (1)
170728 Broad-leaved helleborine (2)
170728 Broad-leaved helleborine (7)
170728 Broad-leaved helleborine (6)
170728 Broad-leaved helleborine (3)
170728 Broad-leaved helleborine (5)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Orchid overdose!

09 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Anacamptis pyramidalis, Bee orchid, British flora, British orchids, Common spotted orchid, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, Greater butterfly-orchid, native orchids, Ophrys apifera), orchid, Platanthera chlorantha, Pyramidal orchid

170609 Orchids Cosmeston

The meadows at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park are awash with orchids, Common spotted-orchids, (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), Bee orchids (Ophrys apifera), Pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis) and, in a secluded location off the beaten track, a tiny smattering of Greater butterfly-orchids (Platanthera chlorantha). To walk along the paths amongst these beauties is simply magical!

170609 Bee orchid Cosmeston (2)
170609 Pyramidal orchids Cosmeston (3)
170609 Greater butterfly-orchid Cosmeston (3)
170609 Pyramidal orchids Cosmeston (1)
170609 Common spotted-orchid Cosmeston (1)
170609 Bee orchid Cosmeston (3)
170609 Common spotted-orchid Cosmeston (2)
170609 Bee orchid Cosmeston (1)
170609 Common spotted-orchid Cosmeston (3)
170609 Pyramidal orchids Cosmeston (2)
170609 Greater butterfly-orchid Cosmeston (1)
170609 Greater butterfly-orchid Cosmeston (2)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Marsh orchids at Kenfig

07 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

British flora, British orchids, Dactylorhiza incarnata, Dactylorhiza praetermissa, Dactylorhiza purpurella, Early Marsh-orchid, Kenfig National Nature Reserve, native orchids, Northern Marsh-orchid, orchid, Southern marsh orchid

170607 Southern marsh-orchid (2)

Apart from 18 species of rust, there wasn’t a lot of fungi to be found during our foray at Kenfig National Nature Reserve last Saturday but what we did see was a lot of stunning marsh orchids.

170607 Southern marsh-orchid (1)
170607 Southern marsh-orchid (5)
170607 Southern marsh-orchid (4)
170607 Southern marsh-orchid (3)

Identifying these beauties can be extremely tricky, even for trained botanists, partly because they look very similar, partly because their colouration can vary quite a lot within species, and partly because they hybridise easily with each other. So, although the chances are that these are Southern Marsh-orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), there may also be some Northern Marsh-orchids (Dactylorhiza purpurella) or a mixture of both. Whatever they are, they’re beautiful!

170607 Early marsh-orchid (1)
170607 Early marsh-orchid (2)

I am, however, quite sure about these next pictures. These are Early Marsh-orchids (Dactylorhiza incarnata). They thrive in damp calcareous habitats so the dune systems at Kenfig suit them perfectly – or, at least they will as long as the dune systems are managed to prevent scrub and trees taking hold: the orchids actually grow best when wind and rain are allowed to destabilise the dunes and move sand and plants around a bit.

Like this:

Like Loading...

The bees that don’t buzz

02 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bee orchid, British orchids, British wildflowers, native orchids, Ophrys apifera), orchid

Finding my very first Bee orchids (Ophrys apifera) in a local park this week made my day! I know they’re designed to entice male bees to attempt mating with their flowers in order to facilitate pollination but to me they actually look like jolly smiling and laughing mouths.

170602 Bee orchid Ophrys apifera (1)
170602 Bee orchid Ophrys apifera (2)

I had to find out more, and I have to say that, when it comes to wild plants, I love the Plantlife website – as well as giving you the straight facts and figures about British plants, they also include the most interesting fact-lets, like these:

*  The aim of the mimicry is to attract passing male bees in the hope they will try to mate and thus aid pollination. In Britain, however, Bee orchids self-pollinate so the deception is not really required.
*  This wild flower was once called the “Humble Bee” orchid (Humble being a variation of Bumble).
*  According to Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder it was used by womenfolk to darken their eyebrows.
*  The Bee orchid is the County Flower of Bedfordshire.
*  In the Language of Flowers it stands for error and industry.

170602 Bee orchid Ophrys apifera (3)
170602 Bee orchid Ophrys apifera (4)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Two orchids

26 Friday May 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Common twayblade, Dactylorhiza maculata, Heath spotted-orchid, Merthyr Mawr National Nature Reserve, native orchids, Neottia ovata, orchid, Twayblade

Of the estimated 25,000 different species of orchid that can be found around the world, 56 are native to Britain and, as some of those 56 are now coming in to bloom, I thought I’d share a couple for this week’s Floral Friday.

170526 Twayblade (2)
170526 Twayblade (1)

Twayblade (Neottia ovata)
First up is the Twayblade I saw growing quite prolifically in the woodland at Merthyr Mawr a couple of weeks ago. It’s one of Britain’s most common species but is often overlooked, perhaps because its yellow-green flowers often blend in with their woodland, scrub or grassland habitats. Twayblade means two leaves, as there usually are just two leaves, from the centre of which sprouts the flower stalk, though, like all living things, there are exceptions to the rule and plants with three to five leaves are sometimes found. The thing that most fascinates me about these orchids is the manikin-shaped flower.

170526 Heath spotted-orchid (1)
170526 Heath spotted-orchid (2)

Heath spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata)
Luckily I was with a group of botanists when I saw my first Heath spotted-orchids last weekend, as they can easily be confused with Common spotted-orchids, though the fact that we were in a damp boggy field at the time was probably also a good species indicator. As the name ‘heath’ implies, this orchid likes to get its feet wet, relishing the sogginess of peaty moors and boggy heaths. As well as being common throughout Europe, this orchid can also be found throughout the British Isles, though it does show a marked preference for northern and western areas. Its gorgeous flowers can be seen from around the middle of May through to mid July.

Like this:

Like Loading...

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

  • Day-trippers April 15, 2021
  • Two whites April 14, 2021
  • Small and green April 13, 2021
  • March Nightingales April 12, 2021
  • The Yellow challenge April 11, 2021

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.

Click on the category

'Dedicated Naturalist' Project 365DaysWildin2019 amphibian animals autumn birds coastal fauna flowers fungi geology insects ladybird leaves lichen mammal molluscs nature nature photography parks plants reptiles seaside seasons spiders spring trees walks weather wildflowers winter

Fellow Earth Stars!

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: