More orchid finds in Western Wales

  Friday 8th July 2011
                We've just arrived back from  the Isle of Anglesey and the west coast of Wales on another walking, cycling and orchid finding holiday in our motorhome.The pursuit to find these beautiful flowers never tires us and there's always the satisfaction and thrill when you sometimes find these magical flowers in quite unexpected locations.
            The sand dunes in Newborough Warren are some of the largest in Europe and we spent many hours and walked many miles in this flora rich area.

                   Part of the vast expanse of Newborough Warren

The Dune slacks in Newborough Warren are home for several  orchids and we were not too late to photograph some of the earlier orchids that flower in May and June.

                                      Early Marsh Orchid

                                   Northern Marsh Orchid

                          In the drier areas the Pyramidal Orchid

Then quite unexpectedly on a banking nearly on the high water mark a colony of Bee Orchids

Back in the dune slacks the first of several hundred Marsh Helleborines were starting to open.

Back in the Newborough Forest adjacent to Newborough Warren more examples of the many orchids that spring up in the damper areas

                                       Northern Marsh Orchid

                 A selection of Marsh and Common Spotted Orchids

 Finally near this magnificent show of Pink Campion we found our first ever Dune Helleborine in flower with several  plants still to open in in the coming weeks

                                        Dune Helleborines

                     Walking along the Beach to Llanddwyn Island

 In the centre of the photo the tiny Adder's Tongue Fern found on the Island

More Orchids found on our walks , this time in the Cors Goch Nature Reserve

                                      Common Spotted Orchid

                                            Fragrant Orchid

                            Our very first Lesser Butterfly Orchid

              Moving onto the mainland and a few day around Barmouth

                        Cycling along side the Maddach estuary

                                         The beach at Harlech

 Next stopover..... Newquay in Wales

                                                Newquay

 The coast path in Cardiganshire takes some beating.

                 Heath Spotted and Common Spotted at this location

We had the pleasure of meeting Nigel Nicholas the coastal ranger for Ceredigion County Council .He was very helpful and obliging and spoke to my video camera about the flower survey on the coastal path. This will
be included in my new film about orchids

 

 The newest part of the coastal path, this section has be cut into the hillside

                    Couldn't resist this shot through the Foxgloves

 Finally back to the Isle of Anglesey to capture the later flowering orchids which have now opened over the last 2 weeks. We are joined by our friends Eric and Jean both have become interested in finding the wild orchids, there's now a bit of friendly rivalry between us.

          This gives a good scale of the sizes of the Marsh Helleborines

          This is in my view one of the most beautiful of our wild orchids

                                      The Dune Helleborine

Two more flowers that that we weren't expecting to find.

                                   Round-leaved Wintergreen

                                      Grass of Parnassus

And finally a couple of Wonderful Sunsets from our Campsite in Newquay