Avez-Vous un Cuppa?

I checked out a new site last week for me just over the county border into Lincolnshire for Man Orchid (Orchis anthropophora) . Parking up on a nearby road verge at Copper Hill LWT , it wasn't long before I saw the target species by the road side verge. Over the next hour I noted at least 25 Man Orchids on the verges and also a new plant for me in the UK in the form of  Common Star of  Bethlehem ( Ornithogalum umbellatum)   . Here is the link for this excellent little reserve:  http://www.lincstrust.org.uk/reserves/Dukes-Covert-Copper-Hill Close up of the Man Orchid flowers. Side view of one of the Man Orchids. Seen on the road side verge! Common Star of Bethlehem.

Following my previous visit to Wakerley Woods I checked this site again yesterday for a better look. Well over a couple of hours of searching this site I found at least ten Fly Orchids and a couple of Common Twayblades . Moving on to the well know Barnack NNR (see the Link) which was less than ten miles away, the objective here was to take photos of the good numbers of Man Orchids which occur at this site. After a short walk on to the reserve it wasn't long before I spotted the distinctive shape of a Man Orchid. So over the next hour or so I took numerous photos of the Man Orchids and also the newly emerging  Fragrant Orchids and Pyramidal Orchids . At this site I also noted some rare plants for the region which included Pasque Flower and small numbers of Knapweed Broomrape. For the rest of the day I spent time looking at a few sites on the Leics/Lincs/Rutland border for more orchids and Knapweed Broomrape. Sightings here included 11 spikes of the Broomrapes near...