We venture down to Gloucestershire for a few days again. Last year could have been described as a bit of a wash-out if it wasn't for the fact that it was searing drought that had put paid to so many orchids. Will we do better this year? I have to say that these south midlands sites (I lump them in with the Chilterns area) promise much and are much vaunted. However, despite a few nice items, they disappoint, not living up to their reputations.

Leckhampton 26th July 2019 (SO 94625 17637)

Popped in here to have a gander at "my" totally unpigmented Broad-leavec Helleborine. This is at least its fifth year, but sadly each year see a slightly sadder looking plant. I doubt it have open flowers this year but will be happy to be proved wrong. There is no sign of the Var. chlorantha that grew nearby, but it may have been a victim of a falling branch. The other BLH are thin on the ground, but while they are still in bud they may be hidden in the long undergrowth. I think I have seen this rather attractive and delicate looking plant below before.

Lower Woods 27th July 2019 (ST 74642 87786)

This is one of those much vaunted orchid sites and I came armed with directions. Unfortunately we misread them and wasted much time and effort looking beyond and to the left of the wrong bridge over a stream. Eventually, after spotting a single Broad-leaved Helleborine and a single Violet Helleborine before we realised and found the right area. Still there was only a handful of Violets, not properly open yet. The saving grace was that I did find what I take to be Epipactis x schultzii, the hybrid of the previously mentioned species. I posted a photo of this on the internet, and some comments were that it was typical Violet Helleborine. Not in my experience it isn't! The stem is purplish, not suffused with violet pigment, the flowers are quite pigmented not the semi- translucency of the typical VH, and the interior of of the epichile is brown, not the usual very pale green. The Best response was that it could be the hybrid back-crossed with a Violet Helleborine. If so, it still has the blood, or should I say sap, of both species.

 
 the Broad-leaved Helleborine and three of the few Violet Helleborines
 
  The proposed E. x schultzzi

The paucity of both speciees and numbers makes this a poor orchid site. It is not an appealing woodland - mediocre at best and dreary at worst -, and it does seem to me that the hybrid is disputed by others becaus ethey haven't seen it. I won't bother visiting here ever again.

Bisley 28th July 2019

I also came prepared with locations for Narrow-lipped Helleborines in the Stroud area. The Toadmere Valley sites proved fruitless, despite me standing on a beech-wooded slope with mobile phone at the exact grid references. Next comes a trip down a single track road lacking passing places near the village of Bisley. This time we come up trumps, though the single plant is 50% of the number we were hoping for. Unfortunately it isn't in flower but would be a nice sight given a week. Still I am grateful this location was shared with me.

Birdlip 28th July 2019 (SO 91736 13289)

Still on the Narrow-lipped Helleborine we stop off at a previously visted site, Buckle Woods. This year the display is rather poor. It's not a great show by any means, but only one plant has open flowers and numbers seem reduced.

Buckholt Woods 28th July 2019 (SO 90287 13491)

One more site to try, and it's Buckholt Woods, but not near Cranham it is north of the road that bisects the woodland. Again though, I find myself on the exact grid reference and find nothing. Nearby is a single Broad-leaved Helleborine and the fruiting stems of last year's Bird's-nest Orchids. Typically there are none of this year's on view.

Prinknash 28th July 2019 (SO 88415 13702)

We are going to the Prinknash Abbey attractions for the afternoon but first I spot a couple of Broad-leaved Helleborines roadside opposite the entrance. In retrospect this is really just a continuation of the Buckholt Woods.

Painswick Hill 28th July (SO 86817 12112)

This is a passing visit as a result of a tip off (thanks Jamie). At the bottom of Painswick Hill, under a single bush is a nice population of Broad-leaved Helleborines. There's an impressive clump of tall specimens and a nice range of colours.

And that is it for Gloucestershire. Yet again, not an impressive haul of photo, species, sites and successes. Nowhere had orchids numbering above twenty even when all species were included. This, at least, makes me rather grateful for the numerous fantastic sites within an hour's drive or so from Wrexham. There are two places to visit on the way home.

Leeping Stocks 29th July 2019 (SO 54838 16252)

This Herefordshire site is near Symonds Yat and accessed by one of those narrow roads where you dread a vehicle coming in the opposite direction. It wasn't obvious where to go, so perhaps we were lucky to find some of the Broad-leaved Helleborines growing there. Unusually, some of them were found growing in bracken; possibly a bit of woodland clearance had allowed that to encroach. There was a seed head of what was almost certainly Greater Butterfly Orchid ;just one.

Severn Valley Country Park 29th July 2019 (SO 748 838)

At last away from sites where orchids grow sparsely and singly. Though most are still in tight bud, we count some 20+ spikes of Violet Helleborine, including a group of four, and those just across the railway track. What is a shame is that those close to the river seem to be no more. Have they been crowded out by untrimmed trackside vegetation or did they grow where the newly erected bench is? What is amazing is that each year one survivor is the VH that grows virtually on the track where everybody walks!