Minera Quarry, 15th May 2020 (SJ 25156 52172)

The first trip out under lockdown is local enough not to cause any problems I hope. The North Wales Naturalist`s website has said the reserves would remain open for visitors, but it seems that a lot of people have been too frightenend to venture out, so successful was the `Stay At Home, Save the NHS Campaign`. There are no other cars in the carpark. Keeping our distance will not be a problem.

The first orchids we see are clusters of Early Purple Orchids behind the remains of the older Hoffman kiln. A nice display, but somewhat lacking in variety of colours, though there is a pinkish example and some are a rather vibrant purple. Can`t have it all I suppose.

A single Frog Orchid, not quite in flower yet was found, while the Common Spotted Orchids and Common Twayblades were coming on. I am quite surprised to see how well advanced the Broad-leaved helleborines were for the time of year. Then I realise it is not really that early in the year; we have just started so late.

Gowy Woods, Cheshire, 20th May 2020 (SJ 44600 71343)

A nice display of the Southern Marsh Orchids here just a short flat walk from the parking, though the area does seem a little more overgrown than two years ago with rush and thistles prominent. The weather has been dry for a short while, but some of the flowers do seem a bit wilted already. They clearly like the ground to be wetter. I count some 200 spikes, including those yet to come. with 20 seen in 2016, 40 in 2017 and 100 in 2018 it does seem that this little colony is thriving, and increasing exponentially. Is it possible with a bit of arithmetic to suggest that the colony may have been founded in 2010 or 201? I would need to see when it was transformed from a landfill site. As in other years some of the plants have noticeably longer bracts than other; they are quite prominent.

Neston Old Quay, 26 May 2020 (SJ 28861 76946)

A second visit to this site, and like Gowy Woods, the colony of Southern Marsh Orchids looks to be thriving, with older and younger plants to be seen. Unlike Gowy however, the dry weather has not yet affected this field and there are waterlogged patches where the orchids are doing well. At least the frisky horses are not in this field this year, so we can go down to the Old Quay where over a century ago coal was mined and iron was smelted. There is very little trace of these industrial activities left to see, mainly just the old quay wall.

Minera Quarry, 27th May 2020

I think with travel restrictions likley to continue some while this place is going to be the go to place for 2020. The upside of this is that it does have a diverse range of orchids flowering across the entire season.
Today`s target is the Frog Orchids, and we find 30 or so in the usual area, which must be a record for us. It was a bit annoyong that someone had gone to the trouble of marking the position of many of them with sticks and stones. This actually spoils the fun of discovering them for ourselves, but at least we did find many before actually seeing the markers. Over half those seen are growing under the shade of trees on a bank shielded from the sun. It was nice to see a couple with just a bit f flower pigmentation.

I wasn`t expecting anything new so it was a bit of a surprise to find four Southern Marsh Orchids growing nearby, close to an extensive patch of Common Butterwort. This makes it eleven orchid species for this site - impressive. I make a mental note to look out for them in future years.

Alyn Waters Country Park, 29th May 2020 (SJ 32199 54457)

We have come here for the Bee Orchids, but the lack of rain has caused the ground to be extremely dry. We find none. Elsewhere in the wooded area things are better, with Common Twayblades coming on as well as Dune Helleborines. However compare these which flower earlier, to the Broad-leaved Helleborines at Minera from two weeks previously; they seem to be well behind. A bit of a disappointing visit!