Friends of Groyne No.4: Fen Orchids

If you want to see the Fen Orchid, Liparis loeselii then there are only a couple of options open to you, Travel either to South Wales or deepest Norfolk. We chose the former for our venture, mainly because getting to Wales is easier and we had some excellent information about the location of what is a pretty difficult orchid to find. Harrap describes it as " a rather small and drab orchid" and " unlikely to be stumbled upon by chance".

We left after lunch on the Monday and made good time down to Kenfig NNR. Located close to Bridgend, this reserve is predominantly sand dune environment and it is in the dune slacks where the orchids are found. We had a couple of hours left for a cursory search before checking into our overnight accommodation at Port Talbot so we parked up and set off for the heart of the dunes, With most of our orchid searches we start with huge optimism which tapers off to near despair as we fail to find anything and today was no different. However, we finally found a couple of specimens, one of which was well worthy of a photograph and optimism that our plans for the next day would be rewarded with more of this "dimunitive jewel" - I don't agree with Harrap!

For once we didn't allow any "mission creep" and remained focused on finding the Fen Orchid but I did happen to notice the massive populations of other orchids all showing a huge variation in size and colour.

Next morning there was no rush, a leisurely breakfast and off to Kenfig. Unfortunately the visitor centre was open but unmanned so we were unable to obtain any local info. Not deterred we headed off for the vicinity of the previous day's find, only this time we were happy to stop and record other orchids. After expending a considerable amount of time and drawing a blank we spied, in one of the slacks, a cane stuck in the ground. Now a nod is a good as a wink as they say and there we found several fresh specimens. Opening up a wider search we counted in excess of 60 spikes, in various states of maturity from shrivelled up specimens to spanking brand new. Although it was apparent that here were no "in bud" specimens that we could find. So, it looked as though our timing was a tad on the late side.

My first Fen Orchid, Liparis loeselii

Fen Orchid, Liparis loeselii

Going over.

The next three orchids were huge spikes, it's probable that such size is from hybrid vigour. The parentage I can only guess at - both Southern Marsh and Common Spotted are likely candidates.