The Wild Orchids of Dorset
Feb 2012
Happy New Year for 2012. Very cold for February, so I wonder if we will again have a very hot April & May? Or will we get to see lots of Bee orchids this year?
Happy New Year for 2012. Very cold for February, so I wonder if we will again have a very hot April & May? Or will we get to see lots of Bee orchids this year?
Dorset Orchids Update. Oct. 11.
The end of another summer of odd weather & just as last year, there were large no’s of Early Spider along the Purbeck coast. However the very hot May has then affected the other Bees, so again very few this year. After my Bee var “Fulvofusca” at Radipole last year another first for the UK was found at Ubley Warren in the Mendips of Somerset. This was proven to be the var. “Botteronii”. By the time the summer weather started to deteriorate, most orchids had gone over, but it did have some affect on the Epipactis helleborines.
The end of another summer of odd weather & just as last year, there were large no’s of Early Spider along the Purbeck coast. However the very hot May has then affected the other Bees, so again very few this year. After my Bee var “Fulvofusca” at Radipole last year another first for the UK was found at Ubley Warren in the Mendips of Somerset. This was proven to be the var. “Botteronii”. By the time the summer weather started to deteriorate, most orchids had gone over, but it did have some affect on the Epipactis helleborines.
Sept 2010
WOW, what an incredible summer for rare orchids. On the 11th of June during a visit to Kenfig I found an odd Northern Marsh that had possibly not been recorded before, this would be “hyperchromic northern marsh” a var. known as Atrata. After publishing this on the net we were invited back to Kenfig to study various other “odd” orchids. On Saturday the 26th I got a message saying there was an odd dark Bee orchid just down the road at Radipole RSPB. I went down and took some photos and when I studied them I realized it looked like “atrofuscus”; according to David Lang in “Britain’s Orchids” this had only been been recorded once before in Sussex in 2001. After publishing this photo on the flower section of Birdforums, it was approved & many orchid lovers from around the country came down to see it. Then very oddly we discovered another strange bee across the path, this appeared to be var. “fulvofusca” although this had been seen around Europe it had never been been recorded in the UK under that name!
WOW, what an incredible summer for rare orchids. On the 11th of June during a visit to Kenfig I found an odd Northern Marsh that had possibly not been recorded before, this would be “hyperchromic northern marsh” a var. known as Atrata. After publishing this on the net we were invited back to Kenfig to study various other “odd” orchids. On Saturday the 26th I got a message saying there was an odd dark Bee orchid just down the road at Radipole RSPB. I went down and took some photos and when I studied them I realized it looked like “atrofuscus”; according to David Lang in “Britain’s Orchids” this had only been been recorded once before in Sussex in 2001. After publishing this photo on the flower section of Birdforums, it was approved & many orchid lovers from around the country came down to see it. Then very oddly we discovered another strange bee across the path, this appeared to be var. “fulvofusca” although this had been seen around Europe it had never been been recorded in the UK under that name!
I also discovered Heath Fragrant and Narrow-lipped Helleborine for the first time in Dorset !
May 2010
Just returned from an orchid trip to Gargano in southern Italy. Unfortunately we had a 3000m round drive as the flights were cancelled due to the volcano ash! I did a walk along the cliff path from Winspit to Dancing Ledge, the numbers of Early Spider were huge and they were appearing in areas were I had never seen them before, so hopefully the bee will also have a good year this time. There were no cattle in any of the fields so has the N.T. woken up to what there farmers were doing?
Just returned from an orchid trip to Gargano in southern Italy. Unfortunately we had a 3000m round drive as the flights were cancelled due to the volcano ash! I did a walk along the cliff path from Winspit to Dancing Ledge, the numbers of Early Spider were huge and they were appearing in areas were I had never seen them before, so hopefully the bee will also have a good year this time. There were no cattle in any of the fields so has the N.T. woken up to what there farmers were doing?
