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!