Definite Heath Spotted Orchid

I have had an Orchid in the East Field for a few years that looks pretty Heath Spotted to me, albeit the leaves were a little darkly spotted. The consensus of expert opinion was that it was probably a Heath Spotted but it did seem odd to me to have just one of this species. There are on the other hand a number that look like hybrids between Common Spotted and Heath Spotted so there are some genes around. yesterday I found a 'nailed on' Heath Spotted and it has been confirmed as such by the experts. Strangely I was the same day alerted by my neighbour as to an orchid in his field and that turned out to be a Heath Spotted too. Even stranger the Heath Spotted in my field is right next to a classic Common Spotted and my neighbour has just two spotted orchids in his field - one of each! The differences relate to the number of flowers and shape of the flower head, the protusion of the central lobe, the shape of the outer lobes, the pattern on the flower, the spots colour and shape on the leaves and the extent of the keel on the leaves. On all counts the latest example is a Heath Spotted.

Return of the Bee Orchid

A single Bee Orchid appeared much to my surprise in 2017. I searched the same area each year since but nothing has shown. Now four years later another specimen has appeared about a metre away from the original one. Information on the life cycle is scarce but there seems to be a general narrative that from seed to flower may be five or six years. That raises the question of whether the second Bee Orchid is a result of seeds from the first four years ago or from seed that has been in the soilprior to that and has developed from the management of that area over the last six or seven years.

New Species - Shield Pinkgill

I had actually spotted this Pinkgill the previous year but had been unable to determine its ID. This year armed with my new Entoloma books I decided it was Entoloma clypeatum a spring species that is relatively common and is associated with Plum and Hawthorn. I've had the ID confirmed so I can add it to the Pinkgill species list for The Beeches.

New Species - Red and Black Froghopper

I spotted this distinctive bug sitting on a bracken frond and luckily its colouration allowed me to identify it by flipping through the plates of my insect guide. It is the only British species in the Cercopidae family of bugs, one of ten species of Froghopper found in the UK. It is the Red and Black Froghopper (Cercopsis vulnerata).

First ever May Waxcap - Golden Waxcap

I usually have a waxcap or two in late June or July - the early ones tend to be Dingy Waxcap, Citrine Waxcap and Fibrous Waxcap. This year however there was a single Golden Waxcap fruiting on 28th May. It must be the strange weather patterns we have had this Spring.

Common Spotted Orchids @ 28th May

I keep a record of the number of Common Spotted Orchid rosettes counted as at 28th May and this year it is a whopping 442 compared with 208 in 2020 and 67 in 2019. However the overall increase in Orchids (including a few Helleborines and the two Twayblades) over the final figure last year is 44% rather than the 113% as at 28th May. What is certainly true is that the dry weather and the underlying trend to less volumes of grass each year has meant that a much higher proportion of the orchid rosettes have been seen by now. I suspect the overall increase in Orchids will turn out in the range 50% to 60% rather than 100%+. Still 50% to 60% is a very healthy increase. I'll take that.

Second Twayblade!

In the 'lawn' near the house as well, rather than in the haycut and aftermath grazed fields. This follows one Twayblade in 2019 and one in 2020. Suddenly we have doubled our numbers. They are all in different spots and very spread out so I have no idea what is going on. Maybe there are seeds spread around in the soil and our management has encouraged them to move to flowering which they have done over a ten year period. Although the lawn area is not cut for hay it is allowed to grow in the summer and it does get some sort of grazing from rabbits so maybe it is not so different to the fields. Now I have two I'll have to get pollinating.....