Orchid Time

As expected the orchids are out much earlier than say 10 years ago despite the present cooler weather - the Common Spotted Orchids and Man Orchids are mostly fully out and Pyramidal are coming out. As usual I was looking for insect pollinators but only found this Flower Spider!. The last two pairs of images are experiments with the new tools in Lightroom for Lens Blur - very impressive and going to give some headaches deciding what is acceptable for Natural History Distinctions (other images the backgrounds are as taken!).

Local Orchids

The Man Orchids at our local Cambridgeshire site are in full flower at the moment but are very short in stature and numbers compared to recent years. This is an early date for them; 2010 was the other year that I recorded them in May and again they were short (Ann Miles Blog: Man Orchid (pin-sharp.blogspot.com)). I only found one Twayblade and this was very small and just a handful of small Common Spotted Orchids including a completely albino form

Barnack Hills and Holes

The storm clouds gathered during our afternoon at Barnack Hills and Holes Reserve but the rain stayed away. Lots of Early Spotted Orchids, Pasque Flowers and Man Orchids to photograph. 

Orchids in Crete

This is an attempt to collate and share the orchid images that I took during a recent week in Crete. I am not certain of one or two IDs but hopefully their beauty and variety can be appreciated - a wonderful experience. 

Good Year for Man Orchids

 The Man Orchids at our local site are at their best at the moment. They are relatively short but in quite large clumps. It was quite breezy today so they deserve another visit this year along with the Common Spotted Orchids and Twayblades.