Botanical Jaunt

Freshly back from Scotland, and with the day looking pretty good weatherwise, I was keen to get out for a bit more R&R on Sunday before going back to work today. I'd read a blog post on Saturday about a small reserve not too far from Ketton Quarry, over the border into Cambs. - Barnack Hills and Holes. An orchid tick was on the cards, and the reserve sounded pretty good generally so I headed out there. Have to say it is a brilliant reserve - I was a bit focussed on the flora and didn't take any general shots of the site but I will definitely be going back another day. A good aspect of the reserve is that there are areas roped off and marked out to ensure that the key flowering species are reasonably protected by keeping people on the main tracks.

Main priority was this ...

Man Orchid

A cracking orchid, quite a few spikes found both inside and out of the roped off areas though not as numerous as the Fragrant Orchids on show ...

Fragrant Orchid

The other good flower at this site was pretty much over - lots of seedheads visible and the place must look brilliant at the peak flowering time ...

Pasque Flower seedhead

There were a handful of flowers just about hanging on, but having spent a fair while looking for them I then completely screwed up the photo as I had left the camera on wrong settings. So here's an out of focus effort - I'll be going back there next year for a proper look!

On the way back into VC55 I stopped off at another reserve, one that I've been meaning to visit for some time, Bedford Purlieus. What I wasn't expecting was to bump into another good orchid, though not a new one for me.

Fly Orchid

I found nine spikes in all, though there could well be a few more hidden away. I subsequently found out that this is known from the reserve though it sounds like they are quite often missed. Also there was an altogether more common orchid ..

Common Spotted Orchid

Another great reserve that I'll be going back to. Aside from the orchids and Pasque Flower, I swept and potted a few inverts from both sites and also grabbed a few more floral photos so a few bits to go at after I've sorted out the highlands stuff.