New Species - Wild Teasel

On the rough ground below the East Field a tall plant has appeared which I did not know but which turns out to be Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) A common enough flower but a first record for The Beeches. It does seem to have a habit of drowning a load of insects in water collecting where the leaves meet the stem.

Orchid count 28 May

I do an annual count on 28 May of Common Spotted Orchids and for the first time the count is down on the previous year and it is significantly down as well. For context the CSO counts in 2017, 2018 and 2019 were all in the 60s. In 2020 it was way up at 208 and then more than doubled in 2021 to 442. This year it is back down to 259. Of course weather will play a part in timing but it is clear that the CSO numbers will be reduced on last year. There are areas which had dozens last year that have almost none this year - so far. At this stage I am counting rosettes rather than flowers and not all the rosettes will produce a flower. The end of year totals in 2020 and 2021 were 285 and 724 respectively so based on that I would expect we will end up with somewhere between 300 and 400 CSOs.

Major major new species - Butterfly Orchid

I have just discovered that we have a Butterfly Orchid on site (almost certainly a Greater Butterfly Orchid but we can't be sure until the flowers open). It has grown very close to our only Twayblade in the West Field. In fact with its similar basal leaves I had assumed it was a second Twayblade until the flower buds formed and I realised it was something else. Orchid species #6.

Deer in the garden

I am often confronted with a view such as the one above when I open the back door - this time I had my camera in hand!

Broad-leaved Helleborine

The first of the year has poked its head up. We had 42 last year, up from 25 the year before. It is looking like last year was an exceptional one for Orchids here and that last year's total for Common Spotted Orchids will not be achieved this year (based on numbers so far). It will be interesting to see if the same applies to Broad-leaved Helleborines. They are a much under appreciated Orchid in my view - not as showy as most but incredible when viewed close up.

Red Campion

I learned a new word today and also something about the Red Campion flowers that are gradually spreading in the wilder parts of the garden. They are dioecious which means the male and female flowers are on different plants. Here's photos of both - the female on the bottom having the five styles and the male above ten stamens.

Yellow Archangel

This is definitely a success story here and we now have one large patch in the wooded area of the East Field and a second patch below the East Field. We also have a couple of areas close to the house with the variagated garden version so I have been pulling that up every year so that it doesn't get to pollute the wild species. I think I'm winning as it gets less each year. The photo shows the large patch in the wooded area which has spread from a few stems.

Small Copper

This is not a Butterfly I see very often here - I recorded it in 2013, 2014, and 2018 and also yesterday. It is definitely one of the prettiest butterflies. No photo taken this time so the photo above is an old one.

Lousewort

This lovely flower was first seen in 2014 in the West Field and over the last eight years it has spread from two or three stems to hundreds if not thousands there. Now eight years on about three stems of it have appeared in the East Field. I have no idea whether the seeds arrived windblown , on insects or birds or via my shoes or indeed have been there all along awaiting the right conditions. Observing the gradual building of the tapestry of flowers is one thing I enjoy here so this feels like an interesting development. As a semi-parasite of grass this should contribute to diminishing grass growth.

Orchid season so far

There are two ways of looking at the current Orchid count - on a positive note it is already at 95% of the total number of Orchids three years ago. That is in early May before the Broad-leaved Helleborines appear and before a lot of the expected Orchids have shown up. On a negative view it is only 27% of last year's Orchid total and some of the areas where I would expect a lot of Orchids seem to be low on numbers. It could be that the very dry spell we are having is retarding the appearance of some plants. Perhaps the time to judge is 28th May as I have a record of the Common Spotteds on that date for the last five years. Two years ago that was 208 (vs 209 this year as of 5th May) but last year it was 442 and I think we will struggle to equal that figure this year.

Twayblade

This was the fifth species of Orchid to appear here and the first one flowered in 2019 in the West Field, then in 2020 we had again only one but this time in the East Field. Last year we had two, one in a different place in the West Field and one suprisingly in the garden area. This year, so far, we have two close together in the West Field. One appears to be the same plant as last year. Hopefully they are close enough for cross pollination and in due course lots more Twayblades.

More Stoat news

He's definitely under the conservatory - I've got the trail camera evidence. He's left a Rabbit carcass out the back which has pleased the resident Crows (and flies). I also am wondering whether there is also a Female Stoat as I saw one today that seemed a little smaller. It would be good to have baby Stoats - I think they would be entertaining.