Archive for the 'l. ovata' Category
It pours
If yesterday was bad, then today was in even worse. More rain, more wind, and more cold. No point in taking the big camera today either, so I was travelling light with the G10 again. We found lots more orchids and a rare fern as well, but because orchids are closer to my heart than ferns, 
then the discovery that probably meant the most to me was the early marsh orchid ssp. cruenta. There are two known locations of this orchid around Loos and although I’ve seen it in several places in the mountains, it’s just simply different to see it here. It also completes one orchid landmark for me – I’ve now seen all the native orchids in Loos here in Loos.
And then there was this really rare orchid I found. It’s the only known individual of its kind – the triblade (Listera trivata)!
(Yes the last one is a bit of a botanists’ inside joke.)
No commentsBaby slippers
Not wanting to miss the lady’s slippers (Cypripedium calceolus) like two years ago, we checked out the status on Saturday. And were astonished to find out buds already! So they are in full bloom this week, which makes them record early (or actually, about as early as two years ago when I missed them…). Some years they’ll be blooming as late as midsummer, normally you’d perhaps find them at their peak a week before midsummer.
Tonight seemed like a perfect time to photograph them, it has been raining today and the wind has finally calmed down. 
So I got on location and yes indeed many were in bloom already, but also many of them hadn’t gotten further than sprouting some leaves. I think this is the most amazing thing about lady’s slippers this year, there are so incredibly many of them. They were everywhere in this particular location, growing in greater numbers than before in the old spots, but also expanding their range by coming up in new spots.
And then there were the twayblade (Listera ovata). It’s very easy to recognise by its leaves already in this early stage and it was also everywhere – mostly growing on the paths that zigzag this location (the lady’s slippers draw a crowd every summer) so I unfortunately trampled a few before I realised what was going on and had a good look at the ground at every step.
The heath spotted orchids are growing tall, in a few days the first of those will open up.
Considering how generously the calypso orchid was blooming, and now all these other orchids coming up… The question that burns my mind is that is this location particularly strong this year, or have the conditions been such that orchids are early (and plentiful) everywhere in this region?
2 commentsDay of the orchids
Finally, an overcast day with little wind! I had a list of eight flowers I should theoretically be able to shoot today, and when I finished my shooting, I had nine. Only four of them from my list, though! Amazing things happen… I wanted to shoot early marsh orchids and was happy to find them growing plentiful after last year, which seemed to have been an off-year for them. But I discovered something new – my #3 new orchid this year is a twayblade (Listera ovata)! I’m so proud I found it all by myself, after the two first ones which were shown to me.
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
Days just don’t get any better than this!
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