Orchid mapping: work in progress

This year the orchid mapping has been beset by problems – not least of which has been the incredibly wet weather – but with the help of Gerry and the other volunteers we have kept roughly on schedule to complete it on time (or a little late). The only slight problem has been that I haven’t had time to update the databases yet and so haven’t been able to keep you all updated on the numbers.

Suffice it to say, that we have been finding plenty of plants and it looks as though this year should be as good as last year. But the flowering season is likely to be later than in the previous 2 years. There will be plenty of Monkey orchids flowering (we have seen the pikes forming) and the same goes for the hybrids. Two Lady orchids have sent up spikes and one of them has opened the first buds, but the plants are quite short this year.

If the weather warms a little then growth will  progress faster but at the moment it looks like the second week in May is the earliest that visitors should come to the site to see the orchids. At the moment the lower gate is locked to prevent access and there are no guide tapes but we hope to open it up this coming weekend.