There are approximately fifty-one recognised species of wild orchid in Britain and Ireland. Nearly all are under threat as their habitats are being lost due to modern farming practices and land clearance for housing etc. Many rely on specific strains of mycorrhizal fungi in the soil for nutrients and germination so if conditions change or woodlands destroyed the orchids cannot survive. It is extremely rare therefore for an orchid to survive being dug up and replanted elsewhere, however carefully carried out.
The Chiltern Hills are home to several species of chalk loving wild orchids and as my garden backs on to open grassland, I get four types every year in my ‘ancient meadow’. Just over half an acre in size, this part of my garden has never been cultivated. It is mown in late autumn, the grass and leaves raked up and put on the bonfire, and then left again for another year.
The first orchid, flowering in late May, is the white helleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium). These appeared suddenly some five years ago and I now regularly get fifty or more. Each one is a single tall stem with white flowers and broad lanceolate leaves coming off the stem at alternate intervals in two opposite rows. Inside each flower is a yellow lip or epichile that gives rise to its folk name of 'poached egg plant'.
The flowers don't open fully as they are self-pollinating. As a result they can grow in deep shade where pollinators are almost absent, typically in beech woods on chalky soil.
The plants take at least eight years to develop from seed, and flowering can take an additional two to three years after that. The white helleborine is only common in South-East England although it is now in serious decline due to loss of habitat caused by the clearance of woodlands.
The next orchid to flower is the aptly named bee orchid (Ophrys apifera). Some years I will find only four or five but this year I counted more than forty! It gets its name from its main pollinator which is attracted to the flower in an attempt to mate. However the particular species of bee required is not found in the UK so in this country the orchids have evolved to self-pollinate.
No more than two cms in size, each flower has three large
pink sepals, within which are the petals shaped and coloured like a visiting bee. The sepals resemble wings and the furry brown lips have bee-like yellow markings. A female bee scent is also given off, adding to the deception. Self-pollination may account for the high incidence of variants with different patterns and markings seen even on the flowers of the same plant. As with other orchids, the bee relies upon a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi to extract sufficient nutrients from the soil. This makes it very vulnerable to farmers spraining with fungicides.
Flowering from mid-June to August, the next two species appear together: the common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) and the pyramidal (Anacamptis pyramidalis).
The spotted orchid grows in many different habitats and is easily identified from the purple spots on its leaves that form a rosette from which the flower spike appears. The flowers vary from very pale pink to purple with patterns of dark purple stripes, dots and dashes.
Other names for the spotted orchid are Adam and Eve, Adder's Flower, Crow-foot, Curlie-Daddie, Dead man's finger, Kettle-case, Old Woman's Pincushion and Ring-finger.
The pyramidal is a small orchid with a densely packed flower spike in the shape of a pyramid. The flowers can vary from deep purple to almost white. The leaves are long, narrow and pointed without any markings. As with all the above, they require a specific fungus to be present in the soil in order to bloom. This year they have appe
ared in large numbers all over the meadow.
I hope my meadow will always remain wild, supporting a large number of naturally occurring wild flowers as well as these beautiful orchids. To date I have recorded over seventy different species from snowdrops in January, thousands of cowslips in April to black knapweed, field scabious, tansy and yarrow in the autumn.
For anyone fascinated with our native wild orchids, I would recommend Jon Dunn's book, Orchid Summer in which he relives his quest to find and photograph them all, including the ghost orchid, during one long summer.
Pam Pitcher June 2022, all my own photos