Annual Man Orchid Hunt

After the very reduced numbers of orchids at Barnack and Cribbs Meadow, I wasn't expecting to find many Man Orchids (or other orchid species) at our local site, so was not surprised when numbers in the main meadow were very low for all species (Man, Common Spotted and Twayblades). However, up on the hill the Man Orchids were flourishing - at least 25 counted in a small area.  This is the 15th year I have visited the site with my camera and every one has been different in number and stature of the orchids eg https://pin-sharp.blogspot.com/2010/05/man-orchid.html

Flowers at Barnack Hills and Holes

Although our RPS Nature Group found plenty to photograph at Barnack Hills and Holes yesterday, the dry conditions have had a very bad effect on the flora with very few orchids compared to other years (eg only one very small Man Orchid). The Pasque flowers were still putting on a good show with all different stages still present but the Early Purple Orchids were past their best. I resisted going on an invertebrate hunt and concentrated on flowers but there were lots of incidentals like the beetle on the Rock rose, the small spider on the orchid and the small Hymenopteran on the Pasque Flower.

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.