A Trio of Orchids 13th May 2024

It has been a quiet few days on the birding front lately, especially after the excitement of the Alpine Accentor in Buckinghamshire last weekend. I fancied a change from birding so opted for another of my obsessions - Britain's native orchids.Now is the season to go out and find them and unlike birds they do not fly away or have gone the next morning so it is a relatively relaxing affair to search for them provided you know where to look.

Britain's fifty or so species of orchids are both fascinating and beautiful but have suffered from the activities of humans so that now many are in decline due to habitat loss and wilful disturbance.This has resulted in a degree of circumspection and secrecy about sites where orchids are known to grow.So please indulge me keeping the locations of the orchids I went to see today deliberately vague

Although my orchid obsession is in its relative infancy I find I am becoming more and more enthused as not only do you get to see uncommon, strange and charismatic plants but most of the time they grow in beautiful out of the way places where you can, as they say, imbibe the spirit of both place and plant.

I called Peter yesterday who shares my orchid passion to see if he fancied going to look for Bird's nest Orchids. Courtesy of Duncan D. I had been given directions to a site in Gloucestershire where almost two hundred were to be found growing under some mature beech trees, a typical habitat.

I met Peter at my house around 10am and we made an hour's drive across the Cotswolds to where the orchids  were to be found. Is it just me or do the trees and bushes seem just that bit extra green and leafy this year due to all the rain? Anyway, after a pleasant drive down narrow rural lanes passing through the aforesaid glorious green countryside of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire we turned into a narrow lane that ran through a mixture of deciduous and conifer woodland. The orchids were to be found growing right by the narrow lane within a green cathedral of huge beech trees.In fact you had no need to leave the lane as many were at eye level, growing on the top of the embankment by the lane and if so inclined you could even stay in the car and view them from there if you wished.

After I parked the car in a tiny layby Peter walked up the deserted lane (we never encountered a passing car the whole time we were there) and I followed.Within minutes Peter located a group of ten Bird's- nest Orchids growing in the deep spongy leaf mould at the top of the embankment.

They are given the name 'Bird's nest' because the abundant fleshy roots are concealed underground in a tangled mass resembling a badly constructed bird's nest.They are by no means spectacular or colourful but still retain the intrinsic charm that all our native orchids possess. The spike consists of anything up to a hundred close packed flowers of a honey brown colour and the substantial stem is paler almost milky white. Some of the plants we saw were around twelve to eighteen inches tall.

Note the two dead stems and split seed capsules from last year's flower spikes

It is not a particularly rare orchid even today, in fact it is still widespread in England despite loss of habitat due to woodland clearance and planting of conifers but for me these orchids were only my second ever sighting, so to see up to forty or fifty from the road, discretely poking their unexceptional spikes above a thick mulch of rotting beech leaves was a real treat.

They are said to never be abundant but we must have seen over fifty without leaving the lane and we were told that many more, into the hundreds were further back from the lane.

We spent a pleasant forty five minutes photographing and just enjoying them in their lovely peaceful setting.

Duncan had been kind enough to also give us details of other orchids growing relatively nearby..These were a couple of rare hybrid Fly x Bee Orchids growing amongst pure Fly Orchids, and Sword leaved Helleborines. If we could locate them it would make a brilliant day of orchid chasing.

Fired with our success at finding the Bird's-nest Orchids we headed further west into deepest Gloucestershire, following Duncan's directions.

We came to rest on a narrow and quite busy road below a very steep bank of chalk grassland.We were unsure where to go and after several false starts found ourselves heading to where Duncan had dropped a pin on his map.It began to rain.Unforecast I was totally unprepared for its unwelcome arrival but it was at least light, a smirrr as it is described in Scotland, the kind of rain that although not heavy seems to permeate every item of clothing nonetheless.

We arrived at the base of the slope. Uncertain how to proceed further from here I called the ever patient Duncan again and found that by some miracle of chance we had got ourselves to roughly the right area.All that was required now was to find the Fly Orchids and then  a particular spot where the two hybrid examples were to be found.

The slope was intimidatingly steep, in fact the surrounding landscape was a series of severe inclines and precipitous roads.We found the semblance of a track, no more than a sheep trail that ran across the side of the slope.Peter took it gently while I forged ahead. Green winged Orchids now well past their best and looking distinctly ragged grew in the grass by the trail.I carried on, getting progressively more damp as the smirrr of rain was borne down the slope by a wind that had sprung up. It was not pleasant but nothing was going to deter me from my mission.

After walking someway I found a trio of Fly Orchids, smaller than I had expected, their narrow green stems, you could almost call them spindly, hard to see against the backdrop of grass on the slope that rose behind them.

The spaced darker flowers up the stem were more obvious and their appearance mimicked a fly to perfection.The upperpart of the flower with thin wire like petals replicating the antennae, the lower part of the flower called the lip is broader, mimicking the body of a fly and is the colour of rich mahogany with a texture of velvet, the crowning glory being a band of iridescent blue across the lip

Fly Orchid

I called to Peter who came to join me.

I moved on. A glance to my right and there they were, unmistakeable, the two hybrids. A five star rarity, this hybrid form was first discovered at Leigh Woods, Somerset in 1968 and currently is known only from a very few sites in Britain. Magnificent, they stood over a foot tall, spaced a little apart and utterly distinctive in a little amphitheatre of chalk grassland and dwarfing some normal Fly Orchids nearby.

The hybrid Fly x Bee Orchid with two smaller Fly Orchids below it

The flowers were larger than those of a Fly Orchid and therefore more prominent and have been described as like a Fly Orchid but on steroids with superficially similar colouring, the colour and shape of the flower vividly likened by one enthusiast to 'an evil purple teddy bear wearing an elaborate horned helmet'. The flower is distinctive, the three sepals larger than on a Fly Orchid and less deep pink than on a Bee Orchid but not as green as a Fly.The lip is more red than mahogany and the iridiscent blue band across it is replaced with a band that is a paler pinkish mauve

The rain persisted  but was of no consequence as we continued to enjoy viewing these two beautiful hybrids. A first for both myself and Peter

We took our photos, paid our respects and for half an hour communed with these two specialities. Then it was a somewhat damp and soggy return across the scarp slope to a footpath that would lead us back to the road where we had left the car.. Peter struggled a bit with the steepness of the slope so we took it slowly and eventually we made it to the car and headed for our last destination and a much anticipated audience with the Sword leaved Helleborine or Narrow leaved Helleborine as it is also called.This would be another first for me.

Again we had to rely on the good nature of Duncan to guide us to where the helleborines were, which was a few miles from the Fly Orchids. After driving past it once we backtracked to find the well hidden turning to a small car park off the main road, and leaving the car we walked further up yet another deserted road below huge  beeches, the green leaves and massive grey trunks completely enclosing the road. 

We were looking for one particular tree, where according to Duncan lurked seven of the helleborines.They are tall and magnificent and should be easy to locate but we were uncertain of exactly how far up the road we needed to go.We had almost got to the end of the trees when I looked up the very steep bank at the side of the road to a tree that looked different.

At first I saw nothing but then came that eureka moment, a shock of surprise and delight as I located the tall stem of a helleborine bearing its multiple separate white flowers, standing proud from the grass at the far side of the tree. 

A supremely elegant orchid, possessed of great beauty, it must have been almost eighteen inches high. Majestic, the pure white petals of each flower, held separately out from the main stem were complemented with a lip showing three golden ridges.The green leaves, long and pointed added to the elegance of the flowers.

Once your eye is in you inevitably find others and so it was here as we found the other six plants of varying height, all ranged around the furthest side of the tree.

The roadside bank here was very steep and there was no way that Peter was going to manage to clamber up it but he was able to photograph the helleborines from standing below on the road. I managed at some risk to scramble up the very wet and slippery bank to get level with the helleborines but after getting some photos was glad to return to the road.

So there we have it. A very special day and only made possible by the estimable Duncan and his guidance.

Duncan had one more tip for us.

Go and celebrate with a home made ice cream at Winstones

It seemed remiss not to