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Sunday 12 June 2022

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 mixtumAll 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



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