Gronant Dunes 2nd July 2018 (SJ 08453 84351) 

Surprisingly it is four years since we were last here witnessing a fantastic display of Pyramidal Orchids. There are still many to be seen, but just not as many this year. Last time we walked from the east walking west to the middle point of the dunes, and today we are starting from Prestatyn, and heading east. The is a marker of where we got to in 2018; a pure white Var. albida, which is still there.

As an aside, if you want to see Stonechats come here. There is one perched atop virtually every bush, as well as others on fence posts

Great Orme 4th July 2018 (SH 75421 83631 and SH 78133 83014)

It is perhaps a tad late for the Dark Red Helleborines, but a day around Llandudno and Great Orme is always worth the journey. On the roadside and the rock face there are a few Dark reds, but it is a poor show, and probably not worth the trek along the top of this rock to see if any are in flower up there. There is still an example of what Bryan Yorke called the Lempet variety at Hutton Roof. It is amazing that some can still manage to survive rooted in cracks in the rocks.

Is the Birds-nest Orchid still going? There is one way to find out and that is to head for Happy Valley on the other side of the Orme. I thought I knew its location in the trees behind the gardens, but it somewhile before we stumble upon one spike in flower. Surprisingly, I can add two more species to my Great Orme orchid list and one of them is surprisingly Common Spotted Orchid. Since Covid more grassy areas are being left unmown and this has given a chance for a small group of CSOs to flower under some trees as well as a single Northern Marsh Orchid on a roadside verge.

Llanddulas A55, 4th July 2017 (SH909785) 

Heading home we stop off at the big layby (with the burger van) which had a rich display of Common Spotted Orchids and Pyramidal Orchids back in 2017. Again, like on Great Orme and Gronant Dunes, the display is diminished, however it it is two weeks later into the year now. There are probably more burnet moths here than orchids this year, refuelling themselves on anything with petals (and yes I am aware that the CSOs do not produce nectar and deceive insects into pollinating them).

Alyn Waters Country Park 6th July 2022

Writing up about the Bee Orchids here I remarked that their growing sites seemed to have migrated over the years. Someone contacted me pointing out that there were more that I was unaware of no marked on my diagram. It turns out to be quite a sizable number, all gone over now, and unfortunately close to where dog owners let their mutts off the lead. I will return here in a future June and watch where I step. I stand by my point though about the elevation being a deciding factor as to where Bee Orchids grow here. This new area is lower than where I have seen them in earlier years, and still supports the idea that the park is slowly drying out over the years and small changes in soil moisture may play a part in where the Bee Orchids grow.

Wilderness, Wrexham 8th July 2022 

Earlier in the year I marked out some new possibilities for local orchid sites. Yesterday we walked the lane that runs between the A483 and the Shrewsbury to Chester railway line, below Marford quarry for part of its length. No orchids. Today it is a walk following the River Alyn, the footpath starting beside an industrial estate at Pandy. The walk is terminated because a stone bridge over the river has been declared unsafe and (probably using Covid as an excuse) has gone unrepaired for a few years. There was just a snall clump of Common Spotteds in a sheep field and so barely worth a mention beyond completeness. It was still a pleasant walk with a descent through the trees to the river with a rivulet cutting through the substratum producing a mini ravine with mini waterfalls, and a boardwalk with 2 metre horsetails towering above us.

Loggerheads Country Park 10th July 2022 

Another just for completeness entry. It is the peak of a heatwave, with temperatures around the mid-30s, so a walk under the trees following a now non-existent river is one way to keep cool. Nothing seen on the walk, but there is a clump of Common Spotted Orchids in the nature garden by the visitor centre.