Ghost Orchid

Like many amateur naturalists I keep lists, of  late I have trimmed them down to just life lists but there are a couple more - I sit each winter creating a target list, mainly species that I would like to photograph during the coming summer. Additionally I keep a bucket list - reserved for those extra special items that in all probability I won't see. Such a subject was the Ghost Orchid, Epipogium aphyllum, it was certainly top of the list and had been there for some years. However, I managed to find a tour - The Vercors in Summer offering the chance to see it. 

So the 8th of July found me in dense woodland somewhere in the Vercors in France. It was a search that was being distracted by the presence of Epipactis species but when Paul, our leader for the tour, said "I've got a Ghost Orchid",  I was with him in microseconds, well as fast as my decrepit knees would allow. I have a dread that the idiot who treads on the rare subject is me, so I take extra care  and in this case it was well justified. There were at least six specimens within a square metre and I had only picked out one. Anyway once the heart rate slowed down I commenced to take a few shots of something I never expected to see.

"I've got a Ghost Orchid"

At one point a beam of sunlight penetrated the gloom and I managed to capture a few shots in natural light rather than flash

Having recorded several specimens we relocated to another known site where we could roam free and find our own specimens. I have to say that I was delighted to find several but the icing on the cake was finding a trio of single flowered specimens.

Another plant that I recorded was Yellow Bird's-nest, Hypopitys monotropa or a Dutchman's Pipe. I have found it in beech woods in West Sussex but it is far from common.

Yellow Bird's-nest. Hypopitys monotropa

Yellow Bird's-nest. Hypopitys monotropa

Big thank you to Paul Harmes - the man with the knowledge

Frogs, Flies, Bees and Butterflies

Another early morning outing - acting upon information received as they say. An email from Dawn and Jim alerting me to the presence of yet more Frog Orchid x Common Spotted Orchid hybrids. Dactylorhiza viridis x Dactylorhiza fuchsii is known as Dactylorhiza x mixtum, All very complicated yet the resulting flowers are pleasingly simple - uncomplicated.

Having a precise grid reference helps enormously - using the app on my mobile enabled me get within a couple of metres of the target and then it was down to the Mark 1 eyeball. Once you have seen one then the eye is conditioned to identify a target amidst a sea of other orchids. 

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza fuchsii and Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Dactylorhiza x mixtum

Having recorded at least six specimens I moved on in search of other species, a tad difficult as there were literally thousands of Common Spotted Orchids present. Of course it's about knowing where to look and from the experience of previous years I located around a dozen spikes of Fly Orchid, Ophrys insectifera. Here and there I found even more Frog Orchids, they really do seem to have had a good year and some of the spikes are larger than usual.

Fly Orchid

Fly Orchid

Common Spotted Orchid and Bumblebee

Frog Orchid

Frog Orchid

Next on the agenda was the Bee Orchid, Ophrys apifera and I wasn't disappointed, finding half a dozen fresh specimens. Oddly the inverse on the Fly Orchid in that I found them in a new location rather than where they usually are - the unpredictability of nature!

Bee Orchid

Bee Orchid

Bee Orchid

By now the sun was getting some strength and some really fresh Marbled Whites, Melanargia galathea were on the wing. Then a couple of fresh out of the box Dark Green Fritillaries, Speyaria aglaja put in an appearance and one was happy nectaring on a dandelion and so was duly recorded.

Marbled White (m)

Dark Green Fritillary

Lesser Butterfly Orchids

 Having received a precise location for Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Platanthera bifolia and that there were at least twenty fresh stems visible, I decided that an early morning visit to the New Forest had to be made.  So this morning I rose at 0500, made a brew, well you can't go anywhere without a cup of tea inside you, and set off at 0530. It was a glorious morning, bright sunshine and empty roads making for a pleasant and fairly rapid journey to the Forest beyond Lyndhurst.

By 0700 I had parked up and set off on what I intended to be a circumnavigation of a fairly large Inclosure, the problem being there was nowhere to park adjacent to the orchids. Well the upshot was that I had to negotiate some pretty rough boggy ground but I arrived at the said location and true to the word received, there were some nice fresh Lesser Butterfly Orchids to be recorded. 

On the way I had managed to snap a few Heath Spotted Orchids, Dactylorhiza maculata. So, all in all a satisfying result that made a straightforward return journey along the easy rides of the Inclosure all the more pleasant.

Note: In the New Forest enclosures are called Inclosures a name given to an area of land originally 'enclosed' by fences.

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

When I arrived back at the car it was exactly three hours since I had set off so I was in need of a drink and some sustenance. I grabbed my sandwiches and headed off to a green patch where I could sit comfortably. Lo and behold, just 50 yards from the car I found a patch of 30 of the orchids that I had just laboured for three hours to record. "Well I'm blowed" I said.

I have a high regard for Foxgloves, Digitalis purpurea -  as they are great garden plants that attract a host of bees. I came across a small clearing in the forest and it was obvious how opportunistic they are. As soon as felled timber allows light in, they germinate immediately and after two years are producing huge spikes until the canopy closes in once again.