Orchids

[Eskander]

This summer seems to be very good for wild orchids in my neck of the woods. I have a local nature reserve which is mostly wetland and "unimproved" grassland - which means its never been fertilised, ploughed, sprayed or anyrthing like that. Last summer I found a few orchids - mostly Marsh Orchids but today I found hundreds of spikes of Marsh Orchid plus large numbers of Common Spotted Orchid, Pyramidal Orchid and the delighful Bee Orchid. Anyone else noticed this?

[JIMMY]

Hi Eskander, i havent noticed any orchids but when i went to the North Yorkshire moors quite recently i noticed hundreds of primroses they were everywhere, i got chatting to a local in one of the pubs and he said he'd never seen as many as they is this year, he reckoned it has something to do with the farmers using different fertilisers/weedkillers?
They looked really colourful :)
:daisy:

[Eskander]

Not sure about that explanation although it's possible. I think it's more a matter of some years being better than others for all sorts of reasons, particulalrly the weather and it's more likey to be farmers using less chemicals rather than different ones. Of course it may be something motre disturbing - climate change.

For those who are interested im what bee orchids look like here's a link to a web site photo:

http://web.onetel.net.uk/~pnielsen/images/4019bol.jpg