Day of the orchids
Then I headed to the lesser butterfly orchid location to get some pictures in a more decent light than what I had on Friday. To get there, I have to walk a stretch through trail-less forest and I seem to be taking a different route every time because this time I came across something new. I had round-leaved wintergreens on my list, I didn’t shoot any such but now I got a green-flowered wintergreen instead! They were not in full bloom yet so I’ll be going back in a few days.
Having done the butterfly orchids, I dragged my gear up to the mine. There’s a patch of heath spotted orchids behind the main building and although it’s just about the most common orchid here, I don’t have any good pictures of it and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to get some. When I got there, I saw something bright orange at the edge of the forest - orange lilies growing here?! Well who am I to argue, of course I photographed them. And afterwards, find a co-operating heath spotted orchid to finish off my busy day. Except, I ended up with a common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata ssp. fuchsii) instead! This has always been something a grey area for me, I haven’t been 100% sure if I really had a common spotted orchid in my collection or not. But now, equipped with my new id skills, I am sure that I do.
Top left: twayblade; Top right: early marsh orchidBottom left: common spotted orchid; Bottom right: lesser butterfly orchid
