Y Parc 19th June 2025 (SJ 17578 70860)

Another place not visited in four years; and from the bushes and stuff overgrowing the way in it seems we were the ones there. Holly, blackthorn and slippery rocks underfoot made the climb more like an SAS obstacle course!
Eventually we reach the more open bit where the Early Purple Orchids grow. Plenty of stalks with seed pods there. Eventually we are in the field and can see the Chalk Fragrant and Common Spotted Orchids. It is a while before there is a Lesser Butterfly Orchid to be seen, and in total we only see five. They are going over a bit, so perhaps there may be more, not very obvious once the flowers have died off. in 2020 we counted 2, yet in 2021 we counted 50, so they must have good years, bad years and middling years. The Chalk Fragrants are quite variable both in colour and form. They are most numerous in the top corner of the field. It is nice to find a pure white Common Spotted Orchid too.

However the best find was a CFO x CSO hybrid, quite different to my supposed hybrid in 2021. This latest one is more akin to a Common Spotted with the heavily marked lip and a bit of a pointed central lobe. It does however have the petals and spur of the Chalk Fragrant, the formal name X Dactylodenia heinzeliana should apply. I base this on the likelihood that the CSO is the maternal parent and that parent`s part of the portmanteau genus comes first. The earlier example was more Chalk Fragrant, so that was the maternal parent and thus the formal genus should be Gymnorhiza. There seems to be no gien species name for this combination.

As we drive off home I notice a stile in the neighbouring field, and a path leading diagonally acrross to the stile that is by where the EPOs grow in the woods. A much each way to gain access without all the prickles etc.

RSPB Burton Mere 21st June 2025 (SJ 31409 73522)

Am I here for the birds or the orchids? The answer is both, of course, but there will be a lot more birds and bird species than orchids. In fact I record 51 bird species. The orchids here though are recognised as part of the reserve by the staff and there are nice obvious labels where they grow. To the left of the visitor centre we see only one Bee Orchid (though the grass where they have previously been seen is quite long). However, there is now a Pyramidal Orchid (the first?) and a couple of Broad-leaved Helleborines not yet in flower. But on the long walk past the reed beds on the right hand side of the VC the Southern Marh Orchids have really flourished in the last couple of years. I did not bother to count them, but was pleasantly surprised to see such variation in the flowers. There is also one plant that is almost certainly Dactylorhixa x grandis, but I do not recall seeing ay Common Spotted parental plants.

Gronant Dunes 23rd June 2025 (SJ 08453 84351)

We are back here primarily to see the Little Tern colony down on the beach, not expecting to see anything new in the way of orchids. There is a great number of Pyramidal Orchids, but this is a misnomer in some cases when you see the Pink Bobbles Orchids or the Pink Lolly Orchid. The few Northern Marsh Orchids have well and truly gone over now, while I spot a nice clump of Common Spotted Orchids, first seen on first visit. But it is way to windy to stick around, with gusts of perphs 40mph. It doesn`t stop the terns though.

Alyn Waters Country Park 24th June 2025 

A brief visit to see how things are coming along. Plenty of Common Spotted Orchids around, and some Common Twayblades. I see a couple of Bee Orchids and the first Dune Helleborine flower - a Dune in june. What takes my eye are some Broad-leaved Helleborines which will put on a great show when they are in flower ... if they don`t get trampled or picked. There is also a surprise in the shape of a rather pale and lanky Pyramidal Orchid. We have seen these not far away a few years back in an area that has become a bit overgrown.

A55 North Wales Expressway (SJ 13189 75925)

We have seen Common Spotted Orchids in various spots along this dual carriageway before, but the swarm on a bank just before junction 31 as you travel west has to be the best yet. Hundreds have turned the grass pink.
There are more along the road heading north from this junction, towards Whitford, but these are not as numerous as when we first saw them. these populations either fluctuate or come and go.

RSPB Conwy 27th June 2025 (SH 80175 76811)

First off, i am disappointed with the near absence of Bee Orchids this year. None in the car park, especially where one of the best spots has been hijacked by the constructors working there. Only saw one plant, and that was setting seed. The var. chlorantha was missing, though I am sure I saw at least a couple of rosettes much earlier in the year on a previous visit. There are a couple of nice Pyramidal Orchids growing singly, and some nice tall Southern Marsh Orchids in groups in favoured areas. Just a bit late to see them at their best.

Mixed with the SMOs in one area are some mighty fine Early Marsh Orchids. Not the usual pink shade, but much deeper, almost like the colour of ssp. coccinia. Those are restricted to sand dunes, but this reserve is not a sand dune. The soil came from excavating the river bed for the A55 Conwy tunnel. Now I am wondering if they are ssp. coccinia flourishing here as much larger plants than the more stunted ar compact plants in dunes. The are almost halfway between the two sub species.

Then, not far away, and against some bushes is an impressive collection of Dactylorhiza x grandis. Cannot moan about Dact hybrids when you see these! Surprisingly there are few actual Common Spotted Orchids around, or am I just dismissing them? It could be the dynamics of the hybridisation of one plentiful parent and one scanty parent. The latter does not have the ideal habitat and so pollination is wasted producing hybrids.

Great Orme 27th June 2025 (SH 75421 83631)

While we are close it seems a shame not to check out the Dark Red Helleborines here. I have got directions to those growing overlooking the resort (thanks Marie), but not up to steep climbs today, so we restrict ourselves to those on Marine Drive. Unfortunately it is a repeat of the last visit with none actually beside the road, and a couple of surprisingly healthy looking specimens growing in cracks in the rocks above the road. It is very windy, so the photos do not do the plants justice/ They just would not stop moving.

RHS Bridgwater Garden 28th Just a mention June 2025

Just a mention that I have noticed a couple of Common Spotted Orchids growing close up to some newly planted bamboo in the Chinese Garden. Were these imported together? Nothing else seen.

Sweeney Fen 29th June 2025 (SJ2746525025)

I keep saying that I do not want to keep treading the same old ground, but it has been 8 years since we were last here; and luckily, despite the driest spring on record (so they say) it is lucky I read that last entry and brought wellies today. It is quite boggy in the lower end of the fen.
This site is quite clearly demarcated regarding where the orchids grow. As you enter, and before you cross the little bridge over a drainage ditch is where the Common Spotted Orchids grow. Most are pretty standard, but one stands out being quite darker than the rest. Noy a rhodochila though! Follow the path that has been laid out to the bottom right of the reserve and you come to the very wet part. The Marsh Fragrant Orchids are most numerous and quite varied in form and colour. The Marsh Helleborines are a bit fewer in number and quite uniform. Because of the surrounding herbage they can grow quite tall. It is in the middle of the fen that the Southern Marsh Orchids - largely finished - and the impressive hybrids grow. Now to me these do not look like x grandis, the CSO x SMO hybrid. The look more like D. x hallii, the CSO x Heath Spotted Orchid, but I have not seen any of the latter growing here.

 
The over-pigmented Common Spotted, two of the hybrids, and a surviving Southern Marsh Orchid