2023 so far …
14/5/2023: It all started really well – the cool/windy Spring made everything a bit slow to get going but we got some lovely flowers and the Monkey Orchids (Orchis simia) seemed to have had a better year that last year. In 2022 the Spring was already very dry even before the Summer heatwave & drought hit but that didn’t seem to adversely affect the 2023 orchid numbers at all, thankfully, though Pasque Flowers were down a bit in numbers. The hybrids (Orchis purpurea x simia = x angusticruris) were about the same as last year and looked glorious.
The only real disappointment was that the regular Lady Orchid (Orchis purpurea) this year didn’t appear .. well, it did but the spike was eaten off by deer.
The really good news of the year was over on slope 4 though, with 2 Monkey Orchids reappearing under the beech tree where we used to have a colony of 15-20 plants. This area had been hit time and time again by drought and I thought the plants had all died off because we hadn’t seen any in a few years but no, they were hanging on and just waiting to get a bit of rain!
26/5/2023: Then over in the middle of slope 4, below the Pasque Flower area, one of our visitors spotted a new patch of Monkey Orchids growing where we had had a single plant a few years ago. We managed to count over 20 plants on the day but I’m sure we missed some.
8/6/2023: As the main orchid season comes to a close there is still a lot of colour on the site – the 100s of bee orchids over on slope 4 are magnificent and the butterflies are still surprising me with Grizzled Skippers in slope 1 flying at the same time as Marbled Whites over on slope 4. What a crazy year!
I was up on the site today and can confirm that the Monkey Orchids and hybrids are looking well past their best. There are still a few flowers that look passable but I think they will be well and truly over by next weekend.