Orchid year - Part 3 Gloucestershire commons
The Gloucestershire commons started a little earlier than the trip to Kent. With a trip to Selsey Common en route back from visiting Worcestershire. I went a bit earlier this year to take in the Sword leaved Helleborine before they go over. The last few years I had gone later in May to see the Bee x Fly orchids at their best, I hoped they would be out as well. I headed over to the Bee x Fly orchids (Ophrys x pietzschii) first. They are on a nice steep slope that always requires a bit of care to walk down. I found a few that were just starting to look good. There was also a lot more Fly orchids here than I had seen before and you had to walk around with care. The Bee x Fly were a lot smaller than I had seen previously but that was to be expected this early in the year. The light was challenging as I visited the site on a sunny lunch time.
Bee x Fly Orchid, Ophrys x pietzschii, Selsley Common, May 2024
Fly Orchid, Selsley Common, May 2024
After finishing up here I headed back up the slope to the car and took the short drive to Rodborough Common to the site of the Sword Leaved-helleborines. They looked fantastic and I was pleased I made the trip earlier this year. I always have found this difficult to photograph due to the position they are in. They are at the bottom of a really steep slope or you can approach from the bottom via a small road but it's still very steep to reach their location. You also have to tread very careful as there are some very small individuals alongside the large plants which I photographed below.
Sword-leaved Helleborine, Rodbrough Common, May 2024
Next up was a trip in early June to the Stroud commons for the usual suspects. I did a pre visit with Hannah and Isabelle to Rodbrough to see what was about. We always enjoy a visit here as they is a superb ice cream shop that is always worth a visit. The ice cream was good and the orchids were putting on a good show. I returned a few days later on my own to try and photograph as many species as I could. First stop was Rudge Hill. It was a good first stop. Common Spotted and Chalk Fragrant were just starting to flower. I had a good look at these as crosses Between these had been seen here before. No crosses today but the other resident orchids were putting on quite a show.
Chalk Fragrant-orchid, Rudge Hill, June 2024
Common-spotted Orchid, Rudge Hill, June 2024
There were a few Greater Butterfly-orchids across the site which was nice as I hadn’t seen them here before. There was also a White Helleborine just coming into flower and lots of Common Twayblade. I also saw a very small white orchid it looked like a pure white Common Spotted-orchid, will be back in a few weeks to check it out. I had heard there were some Bee orchids on site but I couldn’t find any today.
Greater Butterfly Orchid, Rudge Hill, June 2023
Common Twayblade, Rudge Hill, June 2024
There is also a few other orchids on site that wouldn’t be flowering yet but I checked them out anyway to see how progress was. The Broad leaved Helleborines were just a few small leaves and I couldn’t find any Green-flowered Helleborines probably a bit too early. The star species here is the Narrow-lipped Helleborine which is a pretty rare orchid and found here in small numbers. I had a look where I had seen them previously and they were in the very early stages. It looked like the damp weather had not been great from them but been good for the slugs that had, had a nice feast.
Next up was a trip across Gloucestershire to a beech wood near Colesbourne. It’s a great site for Birds-nest orchid and White Helleborine. The birds nests looked great in the dark woodland but it was too early for the White Helleborine and I only managed to see two of these in bud. The only struggle with photographing orchids in a dark wood is that the isn't much light to work with. The R5 is okay in low light but I hate pushing the Iso up too high. I used a manfrotto lighting attachment to help increase the light available. I don't use a tripod which would probably help in these conditions.
Birds Nest-orchid, Gloucestershire, June 2024
White Helleborine, Gloucestershire, June 2024
The next stop was going to be a new area for me but I had been tipped off and giving a W3W location of a Frog Orchid on Swifts Hill. I headed off hopeful of seeing one of these hard to find orchids. I have only seen one before and that was at Cleeve Common a few years ago. Even though I had an exact location it still took a bit of finding. I eventually found it and a few others nearby. It was a tad windy so it was a good job these orchids are tiny and not getting battered by the wind.
Frog Orchid, Swifts Hill, June 2024
The penultimate stop was Minchinhampton Common where I heard about some Bee orchid varieties. The one I was looking for here was f.bicolour. Its lip is spilt into two colours and is a pretty rare variation and a nice one to see. Having found a number of Bee orchids it didn’t take long to find the funky ones. I reckon there was at least 5 of them here. They are on the cross roads of a busy road that crosses the common. I guess the drivers wondered why I was laid down in the grass. There was also a really large Chalk Fragrant Orchid on the edge of the common that was worth a look at.
Bicolored Bee Orchid, Gloucestershire commons, June 2024
Chalk Fragrant-orchid, Minchinhampton Common, June 2024
Final stop of the day was Rodbrough Common to re-visit the Wasp orchids I saw a few days ago. I also wanted to have a look round at the Chalk Fragrant Orchids and Common-spotted Orchids for any funky ones. I started off with the more common orchids and found some nice range in the colours of the chalk fragrant. they range from dark pink through to the much sought after white of Alba form. It was the pure white ones I was after today. I found some good candidates but a lot still had signs of pink on the flower. After photographing numerous orchids in the pouring rain I headed back to Wasps Orchids. I spent some time with these before heading back to the car. En route I stopped to look at an area I have seen Bee Orchids in on previous years, it was here standing out like a sore thumb that I caught site of a bright white Chalk fragrant orchid of the Alba form. It was worth getting wet for.
Chalk Fragrant-orchid, Rodbrough Common, June 2024
Chalk Fragrant-orchid, (Alba form) Rodbrough Common, June 2024
Wasp orchid, Rodbrough Common, June 2024
I would be returning later in the year to the Gloucestershire commons.
