The Quiet Picture

The opportunity to photograph the ghost orchid was so unique that I just had to get back there, this time with the zoom lens to capture the environment as well. I should mention that “ghost orchid” means different flowers in North America and Europe. Dendrophylax lindenii is the American ghost orchid, and Epipogium aphyllum is the Eurasian ghost orchid.

It was raining quite a lot but the Stormjacket came through for me so I think my camera is safe. But as far as Sundays go, well, I just can’t think of anything better than walking through a rain soaked forest in cool weather!

I only had one more orchid left to find in Loos - the ghost orchid (Epipogium aphyllum). It is probably also the most fascinating of all the orchids, as the English name implies. The Swedish name is skogsfru, literally translated as “wife of the forest”, the Finnish name metsänemä translates as “mother of the forest”. I think that the English name best describes the nature of this unpredictable flower. Now you see it, now you don’t - it comes and goes as it pleases, appears in one place this year and then is gone for ten years until the next time, or maybe it will never show itself again but suddenly appears some way on the side of the first place. It blooms only for a short time and then withers quickly and leaves no trace of its existence, it doesn’t even have any leaves to remind you that it once grew here. Just to show exactly how mysterious it can be, it threw in a surprise for us that even my guide had never seen before. We found a group of no less than 16 plants, and then nearby a group of 10 that was so tight it looked more like a ghost orchid bush. Normally you’re more likely to find groups of maybe 5, and even more likely just some lonely scattered flowers here and there on the forest floor. The orchid in the picture is one of the lonely ones, beautifully decorated with rain drops.

That large group of ghost orchids is still haunting my memory, if you please pardon the pun. It was an orchid encounter I won’t soon forget!

Just a plug for minnak.net: I’ve updated Flowers and Orchids. The Orchids gallery in particular is brimming with new flowers, most of them already seen in the blog but check out the last one - I caught the bog orchid today!

This is turning out to be one busy holiday. Day after I came back from Gotland, my sister came for a visit. I had promised to show her my favourite stomping grounds - the mountains. So we drove up, regardless of the weather (raining), did some hiking and came back and did some local sightseeing before she left. Then I just had time to re-pack and took off - to the mountains again!

There are two more orchids that I haven’t yet seen in the Härjedalen mountain region, one is the black vanilla orchid (Nigritella nigra) and the other the alpine chamorchis (Chamorchis alpina). I knew where to find the alpine chamorchis already last year but I failed to spot them. I got a tip for the black vanilla orchid earlier this year, and I knew that they should probably be in bloom now so I headed straight there. The black vanilla orchid grows in open meadows, so when I got to the meadow, I stepped off the trail with the idea that I would zig-zag the area to make sure that I had it completely covered. If there was an orchid in this meadow, I was going to find it! And I did. I hadn’t even come to the first zag when this dark flower stood up from the sunlit grass! I had a look around but this was the only individual I could find. It had just started blooming, so I figured that it’s an early riser because surely it can’t be all alone.

When I had taken the pictures, I started zig-zagging again because I just refused to believe that I had come across the one and only individual of the black vanilla orchid. After a long search, I spotted three more close together, one of them had opened up more than the first I saw and the other two were just buds. So now I had four confirmed individuals, and I hope that there will be more as it looks like this is fairly early for them.

One this same excursion, I found a few strange looking heath spotted orchids (Dactylorhiza maculata). What caught my eye at first was the abnormally dark pattern, and then when I looked closer, I saw the stem covered with spots and there’s some random spots even on the underside of the leaves. Either it’s a very dark and spotty heath spotted orchid, or a hybrid of a sort?

There are two more orchids on my list that I might be able to find - burnt orchid (Orchis ustulata) and marsh orchid (Orchis palustris). On my way south, I stopped at every place I had marked as a potential site for the burnt orchid, but came up empty each time. I think I’m too late for it, it’s supposed to bloom in june but I’ve seen in many places that the orchids seem to be ahead of the schedule (marsh helleborine being a good indicator of this). So now I have to give on it, if it were in bloom I would surely have seen it already.

So only one more orchid, and it’s a very rare one. There’s a couple of likely places further south, but I wanted a break from orchid hunting so I played normal tourist and checked out some “rauk”s at Ljugarn.

And then the hunt was back on… first stop, Mästermyr. No marsh orchid. This was supposed to be a wet place, but there wasn’t a drop of water in sight. The marsh orchid loves water, so it looked hopeless. I was only wondering how the other orchids survived here… for example, plenty of marsh helleborine. You’d expect it wants a lot of water as well. But I did manage to add one more species to my list - dark-red helleborine (Epipactis atrorubens). Granted, with a the narrowest of margins, because the flower hadn’t fully opened yet. I have seen dark-red helleborine buds in many places, but this was the first time that a flower had even started to open, and I don’t want to add a species to my list unless I can say that I’ve seen the flower. So it’s a miss for narrow-leaved helleborine, completely withered but positive id. A near miss for Gymnadenia odoratissima, mostly withered everywhere I saw it but I was lucky to find a couple of blooms on one individual. I know there’s a place about 100 km south from Loos where the dark-red helleborine grows, so I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t find any blooming individuals yet.

Now I only had one place left. If I didn’t find the marsh orchid at Krakvät/Sävvät, then that’s it. It turned out that this area which the book advertises as “being covered in water at the end June” is also suffering from the drought. Even the canal that runs through this area was dry. So unless it starts to rain a lot, and soon, I don’t think that the marsh orchid will show themselves anywhere at all. But again, despite the drought, an unbelievable number of marsh helleborine. Hats off!

When I checked in at the hostel, I had a brief chat about the drought. It turned out that this is just about the worst ever - they have received 5.5mm rain since April! That rain that came down in the north, apparently they just got a few drops down south so it didn’t even register.

It’s amazing that any orchids survive the conditions… most of the orchids like wet or damp and/or shaded places, and still I was seeing them in wide open dry places. They are hardier than you’d think.

Since my orchid hunt is now over (tomorrow is sightseeing only, and I’ll get the ferry back on Friday morning), I can summarise the results. I found 13 new species!! (The number includes the slightly questionable lesser butterfly orchid subspecies, and barely-in-bloom dark-red helleborine). This exceeds my expectations by far, I didn’t even dream that I could find that many.

I knew that Gotland is a good place for orchids, but I had no idea it was this good. And this is apparently a bad year, at that. It’s not just the number of species, but it’s also the number of individuals. In some places you can’t take a step without risking to step on an orchid. Unfortunately, such abundance becomes a bit…. boring after a while. From a happy laugh when I found my first new orchid, I just smiled a little when I found the last. The “wow” had become an “oh”. Even the marsh helleborine that I think is so beautiful… when you’ve seen it in 5 different places, you don’t even bother to take a closer look to find that beauty. Back home it’s always a pleasure to see an orchid, even if it’s as common as the heath spotted orchid (which by the way doesn’t seem to be the most common orchid here). I wonder how the local people consider the orchids? In Slite, there’s a jogging trail that is surrounded by butterfly orchids, fly orchids, marsh helleborine, and apparently even the occasional narrow-leaved helleborine, plus some other orchids I can’t even remember right now. So you don’t have to travel far to see them… they are right there. Does familiarity breed contempt? Do the locals even see them anymore?

Personally, I think I prefer to keep the joy of discovery. Not even a discovery of new, but a re-discovery of old. When you’re not surrounded by them, you have to work harder to find them. And for me, that’s an essential part of the experience. I’ll have a go at the false musk orchid (Chamorchis alpina) and black vanilla orchid (Gymnadenia nigra) in the mountains later on… and if I find either, I know I’ll be laughing as happy as I was when I saw my first fly orchid on Sunday!

The day dawned rainy. And windy. Definitely not a flower photographer’s dream weather, but I wasn’t discouraged. It just takes a bit more work, that’s all. I drove to Kallgatburg in search of the narrow-leaved marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza traunsteineri) and I was happy to find them - except now that I looked at one and confirmed the id, I realised that many of those early marsh orchids I was cursing at yesterday were also narrow-leaved marsh-orchid. But now that I was sure of what I was looking at, it was surprisingly easy to tell them apart. That’s learning the hard way, but these are the lessons that I’m sure to remember. Much more efficient than someone just pointing out the flowers to you.

Weather-wise, I had a lucky break at Kallgatburg. When I was walking to the car, it started raining and it kept raining on my next stop, the Alvena lindaränge meadows. It was so bad that I had I not found a new orchid, I wouldn’t have risked getting the camera wet, but as it happens, I did find a new orchid - military orchid (Orchis militaris). And a bonus orchid in a form of a half withered Gymnadenia odoratissima, and now I knew the species for sure. The ones that got me wondering yesterday were not Gymnadenia odoratissima, they were hybrids at best.

The Stormjacket came up the champ, it kept my camera dry and I got my pictures.

Since I had now ticked off two new species, my list was getting short. All that is left are the rarest ones, so now I was just checking my notes to see where those elusive orchids grow. I read that narrow-leaved helleborine (Cephalanthera longifolia) and fen orchid (Liparis loeselii) would grow in Ar, so that was my next stop. I was stunned when I got there - pyramidal orchids growing by the roadside, in large numbers! This is the first time I saw them since that one individual I found two days ago. And then I was also seeing early marsh orchids and ssp. ochroleuca, plus lesser butterfly orchids and marsh helleborine… all in greater numbers that I had seen anywhere so far. As for the flowers I was looking for, I found a withered narrow-leaved helleborine, so now I can stop looking for it - I’m hopelessly too late for it. The fen orchid was nowhere to be seen.

On my way back south, I stopped at Vitärtskällan. It wasn’t on my list, but the entrance to the reserve was right by the road so it was too easy to miss. Nothing new there, just some cows.

The next location to find my elusive orchids was at Slite. Again, it was a miss but there was plenty of other orchids. Can’t believe these numbers… back home there’s one bog where you can find 5 different species of orchids. That’s the most I know of anywhere in that region. Here, 5 species seems like a poor orchid place. At first on my excursions, I kept a count of the number of orchids I saw. Now I don’t even bother… The last time I counted was 8, and I’ve read that there are some places that host no less than 15 species. They are obviously not all blooming at the same time, but still! And the most common orchid? Twayblade, no doubt. Can’t remember a place I’ve visited where it didn’t grow.

Time for one more excursion before I called it a day. Having given up on the narrow-leaved helleborine, I was now hunting for the burnt orchid (Orchis ustulata) which is actually quite high on my wish list. But I missed it again, I did however find mosquitoes. Got my first mozzy bites on this island!

There’s a couple of good orchid places close to hostel, so it was natural that I would start my morning there. Except, I had a slight disagreement with the book again so I skipped the first one, it just wasn’t worth figuring out why they want to me park all the way over there and then walk back on the road to… whatever obscure point they thought I should take over the barbed wire fence. Anyway, it was considerably more easy to find the second spot, and now I made a new discovery - the early marsh orchid ssp. ochroleuca (Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp. ochroleuca). I was also happy to see more of the marsh helleborine, it really is one beautiful orchid.

After Grodvät, I continued up to the northern tip of the Gotland main island. The wind was really beating the flowers and I had to stretch my patience almost to the limit to get a picture of something that may or may not have been an early marsh orchid. With hindsight, it was. And it was everywhere - I’ve never seen so many. Sadly, not many other orchids to be see, I think I was half blind because of all the purple flowers.

My feet were already starting to get tired, I guess I hadn’t quite recovered from yesterday and I’m a little bit out of shape (or a lot). So I decided that I will only do one more excursion today, and it had to be something that doesn’t require a long hike. Checking my notes, I found a promising spot and sure enough, it produced right away - a serendipity if there ever was one. Already when I got out of the car, I saw two people scanning the ground. So I walked up to them and asked if they had seen anything interesting, they confirmed what I had already noticed myself, it was very dry so the flowers are not so plentiful. As I was talking with them, I saw something bright green in the corner of my eye and we bent down to take a closer look - musk orchid (Herminium monorchis)! It had to be the smallest orchid I had ever seen, must be one of those flowers that are more common than you think because most of the time you just walk right past them without noticing.

I kept walking around the place and found lots of fly orchids and a surprising amount of marsh helleborine. Surprising, because it was bone dry, but this place apparently collects water if there’s a big downpour and then dries up again. Which you could see on the ground, it was dry mud. Just look at the background in the musk orchid picture above, that grey is natural - OOF dry mud.

Then I started having some doubts about the fragrant orchids (Gymnadenia conopsea) I was seeing everywhere. This place also hosts Gymnadenia odoratissima and I couldn’t remember how to tell them apart. So when I saw fragrant orchids that looked a bit different than what I’m used to seeing them, I just simply put my nose to use - I remembered reading that they smell different. And I thought I had found the other species, but then later on when I was reading the orchid book I found out that you can also tell them apart visually and I think I missed it this time. Maybe I came across a hybrid…

Tomorrow will be tough, especially the morning. The wind is really bad at the moment and it will keep up until tomorrow afternoon. And apparently it will also be raining. Not really made for flower photography… or landscapes either, for that matter.

(Warning - this will be a long post. It was a long day!)

I had been studying books and maps since the winter to get an idea of which places to visit. My plan is to drive north and stay there for three days, then make my way down on the eastern coast, one night in the southern Gotland and then back to Visby for the ferry on Friday.

The first stop of the day was Brucebo just north from Visby. Plenty of orchids, that’s what the book said - all I saw was some withered ones. I walked around the nature reserve, but only came up with the twayblade and then some more withered orchids. There’s plenty of other flowers though, most of which I’ve never seen before. I guess the problem is that there really are so many flowers in such abundance, that I just develop a tendency to walk past rather than to settle down to photograph. Blasé in a bad way.

I had a list of 15 orchids (new species to me) that I could theoretically see on Gotland this time of the year. I made up a pessimistic target of finding five for the whole trip and everything else would be bonus. Except now that Brucebo was looking the way it was, five suddenly seemed very optimistic.

I continued driving further north and stopped at the Grausne nature reserve. The first orchid I saw? The number one on my wish list - the fly orchid (Ophrys insectifera)! It’s not the prettiest orchid around, but I think it’s as fascinating as they get. When I saw it among the grasses, I had to close my eyes for a few seconds and then look again, just to make sure that I got it right. I even laughed out loud… The feeling of discovery is unbeatable! And then, just a few steps after the fly orchid, a lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia)! It was already starting to wither, but there was no doubt about it. It is strictly speaking not a new species to me because we have the ssp. latiflora growing in Loos, but all that depends on which flora book you’re reading. My spirits considerably lifted up, I continued strolling around the nature reserve because the book had said that it’s home to many other orchids as well. I had all but given up on finding any more, when suddenly this red thing poked out from under a spruce - red helleborine (Cephalanthera rubra). Suddenly five new orchid species seemed pessimistic again!

The next place was the Gräne nature reserve. The instructions to find it were clear in the book, but I think it’s time for a re-write - the place where they claimed you can park your car was anything but fit for a car. Too many trees.

But I did fid the trail, and I also found the greater butterfly orchid (Platanthera chlorantha) right next to it! Things were sure starting to look up, but I was not expecting it would be as good as the next orchid, marsh helleborine (Epipactis palustris). I was truly stunned to see it, for three reasons really. Firstly, I’ve always thought it’s one of the most beautiful orchids there is. And secondly, I thought this was too early in the season for it so I didn’t even have it on my list. And thirdly, it was a lot smaller than I expected. But size doesn’t matter, what matters is that I was looking at this gorgeous orchid!

I also managed to squeeze in some pictures of viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare). It grows all over the place here, much like lupines back home. Which reminds me, I haven’t seen any lupines here, and I hope it stays that way.

And then at long last I saw a blooming bird’s-nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis) - just about the ugliest orchid there is, I had to get touchy feely with it to assure myself that it’s a fresh flower and not a dry and withered one. I had already seen many withered bird’s-nest orchids but since they’re brown either way, you have to get close to secure the status.

The island is relatively small, deceptively so - even with a map at hand, I still have a hard time accepting how short the distances are. The short distances mean that I have to plan my excursions differently than what I’m used to. Normally when I travel, I go to the mountains and I’ll make one excursion a day, meaning that I pick a mountaintop that I have the energy to reach in a day (and back again). Here, it’s a matter of how many excursions you can squeeze in a day!

So after checking in at the hostel, it was time for the 4th and last excursion of the day - Stigmyr. I found that the fragrant orchid was already in bloom but since we have it back home, I wasn’t terribly excited about it. But the butterfly orchids on the other hand, I was still checking out them to see if they were of the greater or lesser variety. And twayblade… everywhere! I shouldn’t overlook it though, I don’t have any good pictures of it but I figured that since it’s so common here, I’ll photograph it some other day.

Then all of a sudden - a pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) appeared next to the trail. How lucky am I that the only individual of a particular flower I find grows right next to the trail? I looked around but this one I found was all alone.

The orchid list for the day was rounded up by heath spotted orchid, early marsh orchid and ssp. cruenta. That’s a lot of orchids for a day.

So what does that make… 7 new orchids? The lesser butterfly orchid can be discussed. In any case, I’ve already gone over my target so I’m now in bonus-land with 4 days left to explore. Hopefully I can spend some more time with the other beautiful flowers on this island as well, and maybe, just maybe, do some landscape work as well (light permitting). Today’s sunset was a non-event in any case.

Holiday. Now. I have been sooo tired lately, chronic tiredness that no amount of sleep or coffee can cure. My brain is tired, my body is tired, I even fell asleep on the bus. And I never sleep on the bus (or train or airplane or anything that moves, for that matter). For the past weeks all I’ve been wanting to do is to scream “I don’t care” to everyone who comes asking for anything. I didn’t quite scream, but I think my colleagues heard me say it a few times or many. That week’s holiday I had in May, it didn’t even make a dent. But now I have three weeks (and one day)!

I kicked off my holiday by searching for bog orchids. The book said that they are plentiful on this marsh, so I figured it shouldn’t be too hard to find them. As it turned out, it was. I didn’t find any. Plentiful? That’s just mean. I wasn’t seeing any orchids at all, just a few early coralroot in a forest next to the marsh and nothing else. Until this white thing poked out from the grass. The first white early marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata) I’ve ever seen! My disappointment at missing out on the bog orchids was immediately swept away. I had a look around but this was the only orchid I could see. A bit later I came across a normal coloured early marsh orchid, and then a bud of the same, but that’s really all I could find.

In the image, I experimented with the foreground. Instead of weeding out everything, I left some grass between the lens and the flower that created a texture around the orchid. I figured it works ok as long as nothing stands out, but I’m not entirely sure if I like it or not.

I have mentioned a few times how the Loos area is rich in orchids. There’s still a few orchids species I haven’t seen here, but I know someone who knows where all of them grow - so today I got a guide to show to me to the lesser twayblade (Listera chordata). It’s a small flower with green or red-brown blooms and grows in mossy spruce forests, so it’s easily overlooked even if you’re standing right in front of one. Which I reckon I have done many a time, because it’s not a rare orchid by any means. So when we arrived to the site, my guide pointed me in the right direction in the forest and told me to find them - and I did! Oh joy! And having seen one, I saw plenty, suddenly they were no longer blending in and hiding but I saw them everywhere, even when we moved to another place to look for other flowers I still kept spotting the lesser twayblades.

We made an attempt at finding bog orchids (Hammarbya paludosa) but it was probably too early for them and we came up empty. But we did see plenty of other orchids; early marsh-orchid was already in bloom, twayblade and spotted orchid buds, and then a surprise re-union with the coralroot orchid which I’ve so far only seen in the mountains. It’s not even rare in this region, but just like the lesser twayblade, I’ve just simply not seen it.

Such a great day! Even the rain had the courtesy of waiting until we were already driving home.