Avez-Vous un Cuppa?

Here is a few more photos of  the orchids you can see in Vc 55, which I have taken over the last two weeks. These include Heath Spotted Orchid , Greater Butterfly Orchid , Southern Marsh Orchid ,  Common Twayblade , Common Spotted Orchid  and  Common Fragrant Orchid . Southern Marsh Orchid Common Spotted Orchid Var. Alba type Greater Butterfly Orchid Common Twayblade Heath Spotted Orchid Common Fragrant Orchid

Nipped over to Cloud Wood LRWT yesterday to check out the Greater Butterfly Orchids . In the usual spot my self and fellow orchid hunter Sean Cole found at least twenty flowering plants and at least another forty non-flowering plants. Other orchids I saw in the wood included a single Common Twayblade and good numbers of Early Purple Orchids which most had gone over by now!

In the afternoon I checked out Cloud Wood LRWT and the A50 by-pass at Markfield. The orchids I saw included Greater Butterfly Orchid , Common Spotted Orchid , and a non-flowering Bee Orchid at Cloud Wood. On the way home I checked out the by-pass at Markfield and found hundreds of Southern Marsh Orchids next to the busy road.

On Saturday I nipped up to Clipsham Old Quarries in Rutland to look for Greater Butterfly Orchid. At the quarry I noted at least 30 odd Greater Butterfly Orchids, 100+ Common Twayblades, and good numbers of Common Spotted Orchids which were coming into flower. What is interesting about this site is that the GBO's flower in the open on south facing spoil heaps, then the usual dark woodland environment.

Here is a few shots I took this morning of the Greater Butterfly Orchids at Elmsthorpe Plantation near Hinckley. Due to the flash on the camera most the flowers were bleached out!!