Green-flowered Helleborines

Getting bored with reading about Orchids? So am I. It's been an interesting diversion during a very quiet summer but I am getting to a tipping point. Any further and I am into the realms of hybrids and variants and I will need to seek support from experts. They often seem to have their own conflicting views. Given the confusion I am experiencing from variation within species, purely based on location and growing conditions, I don't think I want to get in any deeper.

I still have Orchids on my to see list but they all require significant travelling:- 

Coral Root

Lesser Twayblade

Lesser Butterfly

Lady's Slipper

Lindisfarne Helleborine

Creeping Lady's Tresses

Small White Orchid

and I suppose if I ever come across a Ghost Orchid or a Summer Lady's Tresses, I will be happy to add it to the list. But, its like any addiction, get out before you get in too deep and it takes over your life!

Today was a trip out to look for Green-flowered and Broad-leaved Helleborines closer to home. Research on the web had given us a couple of locations although the information was mostly eight to ten years old. The Green-flowered site looked particularly suspect when viewed on Google Earth whilst the Broad-leaved site had produced one specimen in bud when I had visited it a few weeks ago. Still we had nothing better so it was worth giving it a go.

Green-flowered Helleborine

The location for the Green-flowered Helleborine was a lay-by on the busy A225 just south of Eynsford. As we pulled into the lay-by it looked less than encouraging. The grass verge had been strimmed, there was litter and deposits of various liquids including engine oil on the verge. Yet as Dave stepped out of the car the first thing he saw was the Helleborines. Small and weedy looking examples perhaps, but great to see them surviving in such a harsh environment.

Green-flowered Helleborines

Green-flowered Helleborine

Next stop was Target Hill Nature Reserve just south of Crawley. The reference I found on the web was for the north facing slope of Target Hill and three weeks ago I spent a couple of hours searching that area on the south side of the A264. I found nothing but before leaving I had a quick walk along the footpath on the north side of the road. Just one specimen found in bud but it was reason enough to go back.

I had my doubts, the one I found would have gone over, would there be any more? In fact there were hundreds, or at least well over a hundred along the path and in the adjacent woods.

Broad-leaved Helleborine

There was quite a variation in size and colour even between plants growing side by side. Some of the plants with very pale flowers and seeming to lack the purple colours start to make you think about var. vidiflora which lacks the anthocyanins that produce the purple but I think I will just settle for the standard Broad-leaved.

Broad-leaved Helleborine - very pale flowers

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Broad-leaved Helleborine

A tip for photographers. Both sites were in heavy shade. I prefer to use natural light so again I was struggling with slow shutter speeds and narrow depth of field. The Green-flowered site would have been better visited in the afternoon when the sun would have been on the helleborines. For the Target Hill site there is no escaping the shadows. I suggest you take along some form of lighting as a back up.


Other than the Autumn Lady's Tresses this is probably my last orchid trip this year. I will be making the effort to pick up the missing ones, as per my list above, but this will be on an "as and when in the right area" basis, rather than setting out to finish the list in the shortest possible time. However, I will also be revisiting some of the sites we have seen this year. There is no doubt that finding a field covered in orchids or just a single plant in an otherwise barren area can really raise the spirits.

Narrow-lipped, Broad-leaved and Violet Helleborine

I picked Dave up at 07.30 and we headed north into Surrey. We were on a mission to mop up a few of our outstanding Helleborines. Narrow-lipped Epipactis leptochila, Broad-leaved Epipactis helleborine, and Violet Epipactis purpurata.

Research on the web had indicated Sheepleas near East Horsley as being one of the most reliable sites  for the Narrow-lipped so that was our starting point. On the map Sheepleas looks like any other small Surrey Woodland but it is one of the original 285 Rothschild Reserves and is a awash with an abundance summer flowers and insects.

Knowing that your target can be found at Sheepleas makes it sound easy but with 240 acres to search it could be a daunting task. However find them we did.

Narrow-lipped Helleborines

Narrow-lipped Helleborine

Narrow-lipped Helleborine

Narrow-lipped Helleborine

Walking further into the woods we also came across a few Broad-leaved Helleborines

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Broad-leaved Helleborine - on the left above

Only one was starting to open and it carried very dark coloured flowers. I had spotted one near Buchan Park Crawley a few days earlier that was a much paler colour.

Broad-leaved Helleborine - Buchan Park

Broad-leaved Helleborine - Buchan Park

Broad-leaved Helleborine - Buchan Park

No sign of Violet Helleborines at Sheepleas so it was on over the border into Hampshire where they can be seen on roadside verges around a housing estate in Four Marks. Credit to the Wildlife Support and Conservation team for pursuing protected verges signs and full marks to a lot of the residents for looking after the verges but it is clear that not everyone is cooperating.

An interesting article about these Violet Helleborines can be found here. The most surprising comment was that in July 2014 "residents in Fairfield Green cut down orchids on a Highway verge and the reason they gave was that they did not like people walking by and looking at them"?

Violet Helleborine - most are not yet in flower

Violet Helleborine

Violet Helleborine

Violet Helleborine

Not many left to see now. Improved pictures needed for a couple and the Autumn Lady's Tresses and it will all be over for another year.

Dune Helleborine

On Wednesday I found myself up in Liverpool with Sue, sightseeing and watching the Netball World Championships! I had no choice - you make these rash promises when the consequences of the decision are off the radar. All you want is a quiet life and it's easier to go along with the idea. The consequences, four hours sat amongst a bunch of screaming school girls watching a game you don't really understand, is not the quiet life I was looking for.

The architecture and engineering of the Anglican Cathedral was some consolation but my real reward was squeezing in a day at Southport giving me access to Ainsdale NNR and its Dune Helleborines Epipactis dunensis. It all looked good until I saw the weather forecast showing heavy rain all day.

Only one chance though, so we had to give it a go and 7am Friday morning found us searching the reserve and dodging the frequent heavy showers. The edges of the Pine plantations proved to be the most productive areas and we soon had a good number of sightings.

Dune Helleborine

Dune Helleborine - some flowers not opening much

Dune Helleborine

We eventually found a few in a more sheltered spot including a couple of much larger specimens.

Dune Helleborine

Dune Helleborine

Dune Helleborine

It was nice to get my first sighting of Dune Helleborines but getting the pictures was a lot harder. The lighting was poor, the camera was wet, I couldn't see through my glasses, my shoes and trousers were soaked and I knew that heavier rain was on its way. Can't complain though, the pictures aren't perfect but I got my record shots and a bonus in what I think are Green-flowered Helleborines - Epipactis phyllanthes var pendula.

Green-flowered Helleborine

Green-flowered Helleborine

Green-flowered Helleborine

Not a particularly good picture but hopefully proof of the Green-flowered Helleborines above.

There were also Pyramidal Orchids growing close by but we had seen enough and headed back to the hotel. A quick dry and change of clothes and we were just in time for breakfast, which was all the better for the early morning exercise.

I did try to get into Martin Mere in the afternoon but we didn't get past the Visitors Centre. The rain came on heavy and Sue didn't want to get wet again. Bit of a mistake going there really as she then got loose in the gift shop and it turned out to be an expensive afternoon.

Fen Orchid

The orchids come thick and fast at this time of year and today we were down in South Wales at Kenfig National Nature Reserve looking for Fen Orchids Liparis loeselii. It is one of only two places in the UK where they can be found and it is said to hold around 90% of of the total population.

We had been given a few hints on where to look but had also been warned that many were past their best.  First impressions were daunting. The reserve is fantastic, a large lake surrounded by 1300 acres of sand dunes, mixed with patches of damp woodland, wet and dry grassland, marsh and slacks. Slacks being the flat, low lying areas between the dunes where we would be searching for the Fen Orchids. The whole area being covered in a huge variety of wild flowers.

Daunting, because it felt like the return of "Bog Orchid", a search for another small insignificant looking green plant in a huge area of much larger green plants.

We arrived at about 5pm on the Monday and with a fine evening in prospect set off to make a preliminary search. Tough going for a while but eventually Dave found the first Fen Orchid and then once he had "his eye in" a couple more of them in the same area.

Fen Orchid - Liparis loeselii

Much happier we headed off to find our hotel and a celebratory pint, knowing that the Tuesday would be a much less stressful day.


An early start the next morning found us searching a much wider area, looking for more Fen Orchids and also for other species of orchids known to grow at Kenfig. Most impressive were the numbers of Marsh Helleborine. We had been told that there were thousands at Kenfig and had expected a significant improvement on the double figures we had found in Hampshire last Friday but the numbers were truly staggering. In places you couldn't walk of the tracks as there was nowhere to put your feet with out treading on them. We only covered a small area of the total reserve but if our experience is repeated across the site they must run to hundreds of thousands. I am glad that I am not responsible for the count.

Marsh Helleborine - Epipactis palustris

Marsh Helleborine - Epipactis palustris

There is also a white variety Epipactis palustris var. albiflora, which grows in good numbers at Kenfig although it is rare  elsewhere.There are two varieties of Marsh Helleborine which lack brown and purple pigments and they are easily confused. Plants of var. ochroleuca, the ones we found in Hampshire, are pale like this variety but still have the purple guide-lines in the hypochile. This variety, albiflora does not have those guide lines.

Marsh Helleborine - Epipactis palustris v albiflora

Marsh Helleborine - Epipactis palustris v albiflora

Marsh Helleborine - Epipactis palustris v albiflora

The main search, for the Fen Orchids, was slow but we eventually found over fifty plants with the bulk of them around a cane that someone had kindly stuck in the ground as an indicator. Marking the location of orchids is always a difficult call, do you risk damaging the plants by enticing people into the area or are you saving them by warning people to be careful where they are treading.

A good number of the orchids were going over but we still had a lot of good specimens to photograph.

Fen Orchid - Liparis loeselii

Fen Orchid - Liparis loeselii  and Aphids

Fen Orchid - Liparis loeselii

Fen Orchid - Liparis loeselii

There were a good number of other orchids in the reserve although I think we were a little early for the other Helleborines we would have been interested in, Broad-leaved and neerlandica. There were Southern Marsh, Fragrant and Pyramid Orchids plus a lot of over size specimens that looked like hybrids, mostly with a strong influence of Southern Marsh Orchid. Speculation on naming these is beyond my current skill level and probably always will be. Please enjoy the pictures and if you can add to my knowledge by putting names to any of them please let me know.

Southern Marsh Orchid - Dactylorhiza praetermissa

Southern Marsh Orchid - Dactylorhiza praetermissa

Southern Marsh Orchid - Dactylorhiza praetermissa

Southern Marsh Orchid - Dactylorhiza praetermissa

Spotted leaves so possible hybrid of Southern Marsh and Common Spotted

Marsh Fragrant

Marsh Fragrant

Marsh Fragrant

Most sources refer to the fragrant orchids at Kenfig as being Marsh Fragrants. I am not sure why this should be. The sand dunes must be full of ground down sea shell, that is Calcium Carbonate the same substance as chalk. so why not Chalk Fragrants. Harrap's book refers to them as being var friesica and of intermediate appearance between Marsh and Heath Fragrants.

Pyramidal Orchid

Hybrid?

and one below that looks a lot like Frog Orchid but with over developed flowers so possibly a hybrid of Frog Orchid.

I thought that photographing orchids would be easy, after all, they don't move about that much. For some it has been easy, however, finding the more drab species like Bog and Fen is hard work and having the confidence to put names on the blog against some of the plants I have photographed is proving to be real pressure. In some cases it is easier just to file the pictures away without using it. Bring back the birds!