Telford 10th June 2019 ( SJ 66936 10642 )

Another trip to see the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race live means orchids sort of go on the back burner for a while, but the journeys do mean there are opportunities. The first stop is a traffic island just by Tesco and McDonalds at Telford, where yet another grass verge has welcomed hundreds of magnificent Bee Orchids. Just watch out for the traffic and don't catch the eye of the car drivers who gawp, wondering what the hell you are doing. A shame that there were no named (or un-named) varieties present.

Parsonage Moor 11th June 2019 (SU 46112 99767)

After an abandoned stop at Ettington for the Bee Orchids there (to cold, wet, windy and muddy) we drove south to better weather and this reserve said to be home to the schoenohila variety of Southern Marsh Orchid, which is still on my To See list. Last year it was bone dry, this year in fine fettle, but all we find is a single Common Spotted Orchid.

Dover Council Office 11th June 2019 ( TR 30454 44554 )

There are a few patches on the lawn outside these offices where Bee Orchids have appeared and been left un-mown for the flowering (and hopefully seed setting) period. Worth seeing if only if you have been to the Tesco next door.

Also a quick mention that Common Spotted Orchids can seen on the A2 roadside just before the flyover leading to the port of Dover.

Sandwich Bay 11th June 2019 ( TR 35883 58676 )

A trip down to catch a Dover ferry in June is incomplete without dropping in to see Britain's most flamboyant orchids in Sndwich Bay, the Lizard Orchids that face the sea, occupy the fairways and spring up in people's front gardens. This year is a great show of them, with some nice giant ones, and groupings. Some are highly coloured and others almost lack any red pigmentation; and it was nice not to have to cope with a breeze for once.

Autoroute A28 France 12th and 17th June 2019

Driving through Rouen south down to Le Mans there are orchids to spot, even if you are bowling along at 130 kph!
First off was just before we head into the tunnel just north of Rouen. Several hundred Pyramidal Orchids adorn the inaccessible slopes on the southbound side.
Then as we go around Alencon there is the distinctive silhouettes of Lizard Orchids outlined at the top of a bank again on the southbound side.
Returning from Le Mans we keep a watch for more readily identifiable orchids bordering the autoroute. There are more Lizard Orchids just before reaching the turn off for Alencon, Pyramidal Orchids and Lizard Orchids just before crossing River Orne, and Pyramidal Orchids about 3km before that. More Pyramidals crop up periodically all along the road side, and then they are seen mixed with Common Spotted Orchids as well.

Etaples, France, 18th June 2019 (50.559033N 1.6100550E)

We set off from Boulogne for the dunes near Le Touquet. This seems to be fruitless. The paths through the dunes seem to be exercise rutes for  second home owners, and off these there is yoo much undergrowth. Instead we head back along the D940, where just north of Etaples we had spotted a couple Lizard Orchids on the roadside. In fact there are quite a few, and would have been more if someone hadnƒ?™t picked a number of them.  Some nice tall ones present. And there are Bee Orchids dotted inbetween the lizards. Quite a nice spot.

Across the road in the shade of  pines and growing on a sandy slope are some Epipactis rosettes, with quite a way to go before flowering. These are probably Broad-leaved Helleborines, but I find it surprising that they are well behind those in North Wales in terms of development. The situation is more Dune  Helleborine, but equally, if so, they should be closer to flowering. The same applies if they are neerlandica types. I need someone to have a  look at them in late July!