Friday 9th Aug. 2013
Finding the Frog Orchid this year has been a bit of a challenge. The hot summer has produced almost Prairie conditions in Upper Ribblesdale and finding them in the grassland needed disciplined concentration and a keen eye. Once we got our eye in we found around 20 plants but moving on a couple of yards they just seem to become invisible again merging in to surround foliage.
The sun bleached grassland of Upper Ribblesdale with Pen-y-Ghent across the valley
The tiny Frog Orchid about 2-3 inch high is in the middle of the picture it shows the difficulty in finding them because they merge into their suirroundings
Frog Orchids with their different colouration
Near the Railway Station at Ribblehead we found some of the later orchids still in flower
The Marsh Fragrant Orchid growing amongst the Marsh Helleborines
Marsh Helleborine
Finding the Frog Orchid this year has been a bit of a challenge. The hot summer has produced almost Prairie conditions in Upper Ribblesdale and finding them in the grassland needed disciplined concentration and a keen eye. Once we got our eye in we found around 20 plants but moving on a couple of yards they just seem to become invisible again merging in to surround foliage.
The sun bleached grassland of Upper Ribblesdale with Pen-y-Ghent across the valley
Near the Railway Station at Ribblehead we found some of the later orchids still in flower
What a beauty you are sharing. Great to enlarge the photo's they make the orchids more beautiful.
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Congratulations on your find, David! You have a very keen eye indeed. I love to hear about/see your wild orchid finds :-D
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