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Tag Archives: common spotted orchid

Midsummer Hillside

15 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by theresagreen in butterflies, Nature of Wales, North Wales, wildflowers

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

6-spot Burnet Moth, Arge pagana, Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, calcareous grassland, Cinnabar moth, Cistus Forester moth, common spotted orchid, dark green fritillary, grayling, Large Skipper, Meadow Brown, Painted Lady, Ringlet, rose sawfly, scabious, silver y moth, slow walking, slow worm, small heath, small tortoiseshell

Emerging from the shelter of the Woodland….

12:05 The steps lead up from the Woodland Trail and into an open sloping grassy space, whose character changes from year to year, largely according to the weather. The soil covering over limestone rock is very shallow and susceptible to erosion by the elements and by people walking over it; consequently it dries out rapidly when it’s as hot and dry as it was throughout this May. The grass is cut every year, sometime during the autumn or late winter and by now it would usually have grown quite tall again at the bottom end of the slope, but this year it is struggling to recover. A few days before I took this photograph, before the rain returned, it was completely brown and dry. There’s still time for it to pick up though, particularly if it keeps raining: plants that grow here are tough.

With no wildflowers there were of course no bees or butterflies or indeed anything much to tempt me to dither about here, so I carried on up the slope towards the trail that leads up to the summit. The view from higher up, looking westwards along the valley gives some indication of what a strange day this was. Low cloud hung as a heavy mist obscured the mountains from view and despite it being windy the warm air charged with moisture made it feel heavy and humid too. Traffic on the Expressway was still light compared to pre-lockdown days, but the sound of even a few vehicles can manifest as a roar at this height.

The nature of the vegetation on the exposed cliff-edge side of the Trail has evolved into an interesting area of what I think of as pre-woodland scrub, by which I mean it’s presently a mix of long meadow grasses becoming populated with patches of low-growing bramble, dog rose and young trees. I’m not sure if these trees are self-sown or were deliberately planted, perhaps a mix of both.

12:37 It was windy up here, which is by no means unusual, but there were butterflies and bees flying about, all keeping low and in the shelter of the vegetation. There were Ringlets, the first ones I’ve seen so far this year, some were chasing around not settling at all, but there was one that found a sunny spot on a low bramble leaf that it kept returning to. I couldn’t get a better angle for a photograph, but I was happy to get one at all.

200615-1234-BEST (174)-Buff-tailed bumblebee & Ringlet
Ringlet
Ringlet

Another first of the year sighting was a lovely Large Skipper that was much more obliging about posing.

Large Skipper
Large Skipper
Ochlodes venatus
Ochlodes venatus

Amongst the grass summer wildflowers are beginning to show, not in great amounts, but I think that makes them a bit more special.

Lady's Bedstraw-Galium verum-Briwydd felen
Lady’s Bedstraw-Galium verum-Briwydd felen
Field Scabious-Knautia arvensis-Clafrillys y maes
Field Scabious-Knautia arvensis-Clafrillys y maes

On a Dog-rose briar were several shiny new 7-spot ladybirds and a Rose Sawfly. Adults of this species are distinctively coloured black and gold and have smoky wings. Female sawflies lay eggs in soft young rose stems and the emerged larvae are sometimes considered to be ‘pests’ in gardens as they feed on the soft tissue of rose leaves, leaving just the leaf ribs. Happily they’re safe from human interference here, although doubtless there’ll be predators awaiting future larvae.

Rose Sawfly & 7-spot ladybird
Rose Sawfly & 7-spot ladybird
Rose Sawfly-Arge Pagana
Rose Sawfly-Arge Pagana

A Meadow Brown butterfly intent on feeding on bramble flowers stayed put for long enough for me to take some photographs; opening its wings each time another insect flew close to it.

Meadow Brown
Meadow Brown
Meadow Brown
Meadow Brown

13:09 Back on the path I disturbed a Grayling that had been basking on the warm bare earth. There are never very many here on the Bryn, and there have been years when I haven’t managed to catch sight of one at all, so I was happy to see it, but sad I’d missed it. Fortunately it didn’t go far and after a fly around it landed back almost in the same spot. These beautifully-marked butterflies are so well camouflaged you can easily lose sight of them until they move or flash their eyespots.

Grayling-Hipparchia Semele

Rather than following the bend in the trail that climbs up to the summit of the hill, I  carried on towards the far edge of the cliff, watching out for more Graylings.

There were no more to be seen today, but a Small Tortoiseshell sunning itself on a rock, more than compensated for the lack of them. It was very restless, opening and closing its wings and adjusting its angle, but it stayed until a large dragonfly flew close over the top of it, then it took off and left at speed.

200615-1322-BEST (398s)-Small Tortoiseshell
Small Tortoiseshell
Small Tortoiseshell
200615-1319-BEST (227s)-Small Tortoiseshell

13:29 I turned around then and walked back to re-join the Summit Trail where it slopes down then up again, forming quite a deep U-shaped dip. I often look for reasons to spend a few minutes here as by the magic of its geology, it’s almost always sheltered from the wind and the only spot that I know of on the Bryn that somehow escapes the constant noise of the Expressway traffic. Today there was sound though, not traffic, but a constant and strangely muffled rumbling of thunder that was emanating from behind the distant cloud-covered mountains. Then to add to the already strange atmosphere of the day, the still air here held the briny scent of the sea; most peculiar! The grassy border on one side of the path here is one of the best spots I know to find numbers of lovely Pyramidal Orchids and they seem to be particularly abundant this year.  Traveller’s Joy, our wild clematis, seems always to be threatening to take over this ground, but thus far the orchids appear despite its encroachment.

Pyramidal Orchid-Anacamptis pyramidalis
Pyramidal Orchid-Anacamptis pyramidalis
Tegerian bera-Anacamptis pyramidalis
Tegerian bera-Anacamptis pyramidalis

The opposite side of the track, fronting a Blackthorn thicket, has a slightly different character. Not so dominated by the clematis, here there is bramble, Rosebay Willowherb and a few Ragwort plants, which could be why I was got a rare glimpse of a striking red and black Cinnabar Moth. It may have been a newly-emerged one as it was clinging upside down to a blade of grass. There was another Ringlet here too, feeding on bramble and holding open its velvety chocolate-brown wings.

Cinnabar Moth
Cinnabar Moth
Ringlet
Ringlet

Goat’s-beard-Tragopogon pratensis-Barf yr afr Felen

Walking on up towards the summit over the remains of what were once part of the defensive walls of the old Hillfort, I was keeping an eye out for a glimpse of a Dusky Skipper butterfly; I’ve seen them here before in previous years, but there’s so little in flower here now I guess there’s nothing to tempt them.

What there was though were the big round seedheads of Goat’s-beard.

The summit, which as you see from a distance, is gently rounded and surprisingly grassy and well-vegetated. There is a huge raspberry-bramble patch, which is always slightly later to flower than those plants lower down the hill, which was attracting the attentions of a Red Admiral and another Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.

13:46 I walked towards the summit edge to look at the view and passed more bramble, which had a big orange and black fly feeding on its blossom; a distinctive orange and black, very bristly tachinid fly – Tachina fera.

Small Tortoiseshell
Small Tortoiseshell
Tachina fera
Tachina fera

Heavy cloud completely misted out the view across Colwyn Bay. We get at least two types of mist here; there’s downwards mist that falls from heavy cloud moving over the mountains, then there’s upwards sea-mist drawn up from the surface of the water by warm air. I think it’s likely that today’s was a blend of both.

 

The trail carries on around the trig point and opens out again onto the other side of the hill. The view from here was fascinating, a thick band of low cloud obscured the Little Orme, moving across the headland and snaking wraith-like out over the sea.

14:40: On this side of the hill the steeply sloping open grassland is more exposed and open to the elements, mainly from the North and East. It was very windy and although it appeared that we were surrounded on all sides by misty cloud it was actually a very warm, almost hot afternoon. Days like this can sometimes be good for finding insects as in the wind they tend to be less mobile and stay closer to the ground. It helps that they still need to eat too; I spotted a female Swollen-thighed Beetle on a Rockrose flower and a lovely shiny green Forester Moth on Cat’s-ear.

Swollen-thighed Beetle-female
Swollen-thighed Beetle-female
Cistus Forester
Cistus Forester

Tucked down into the shelter of the grass were a Small Heath butterfly and another day-flying moth, this one a Six-spot Burnet.

Small Heath
Small Heath
6-Spot Burnet
6-Spot Burnet

This more open grassy part of the Bryn is also good for orchids, this time the pretty pink Common Spotted species. As with most orchid species, numbers of plants fluctuate from year to year, which can be for a number of reasons, but I wonder if there are less now as the character of the habitat is changing. A few years ago this slope was predominantly short grassland, but is quite quickly developing into more ‘pre-woodland’ grassy scrub with bramble, gorse and trees being left to grow. I had to hunt to find some today, then came upon this perfectly beautiful little group of them set amongst Cowslips going to seed.

Common Spotted Orchid-Dactylorhiza fuchsii
Common Spotted Orchid-Dactylorhiza fuchsii
Tegeirian Brych-Dactylorhiza fuchsii
Tegeirian Brych-Dactylorhiza fuchsii

I was hoping to see at least one Dark Green Fritillary butterfly here today and finally got my wish as I stood up from my orchid photographs. Their size, colour and speed of flight are pretty distinctive, so I recognised the one that galloped past in front of me, but it quickly disappeared into the middle of the scrub. I found a narrow track through which I followed in the hope of finding more of them within its shelter, passing by a bramble where a Painted Lady butterfly sat feeding and disturbing a Silver-Y Moth, both of which are migrants, so could have been recent arrivals.

200615-1408-BESTnw (302)-Painted Lady
200615-1405-BESTnw (298)-Silver Y

14:20 I sat for a while in a clear spot amongst the scrub and did see more Dark Green Fritillaries, but they were very mobile and of course chose the most inaccessible parts of the vegetation to fly over. But at least I know they are out and about now, so can come back to find them another day. At the bottom of the slope there were more brambles and more insects. Butterflies: another Large Skipper, a Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood to add to my day’s list.

Large Skipper
Large Skipper
Red Admiral
Red Admiral

Below is a selection of other insects I photographed there:

Hoverfly -Scaeva pyrastri
Hoverfly -Scaeva pyrastri
Hoverfly-Eristalis pertinax
Hoverfly-Eristalis pertinax
Hoverfly-Sun-fly-Helophilus pendulus
Hoverfly-Sun-fly-Helophilus pendulus
Tree bumblebee
Tree bumblebee
Swollen-thighed beetle (female)
Swollen-thighed beetle (female)
7-spot Ladybird
7-spot Ladybird

15:36 The weather may have been a bit strange, but I headed back home feeling more than happy with the diversity of the wildlife I’d seen during the course of a few hours; then not far along on the path back through the woodlands, lying stretched out and motionless was a perfect Slow Worm. Looking more closely I could see it was lying belly-up and although it looked to be unharmed, I thought the poor thing was dead as it was making no attempt to move.

I couldn’t, and still can’t imagine how it had ended up in that position, but it was shady there and I wondered if it had got too cold to right itself. I picked up a stick lying nearby and gently rolled it till it was right-side up and to my relief after a few seconds it moved off into the vegetation at the side of the path. Thank goodness I reached it before a curious dog found it….

 

 

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Summer Orchids

16 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, calcareous grassland, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, wildflowers, Wildflowers of Wales, wildflowers on limestone

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

anacamptis pyramidalis, British Orchids, common spotted orchid, dactylorhiza fuchsii, Pyramidal Orchid, summer orchids, Teigeiren Brych, Teigeirian bera

June 23rd-Bryn Euryn

160605-BEFL-First Pyramidal Orchid 1

5/6/16 – Pyramidal Orchid – first sighting of 2016

I photographed my first sighting of a Pyramidal Orchid on June 5th, where it was growing through a complimentary patch of Common Rockroses. Since then they have come on apace and there are many more showing their beautiful heads amongst the long grass that fringes the summit of the Bryn.

July 3rd

Ten days later the rush of blooms had slowed and whilst there were still a good number to be found, they are more scattered and most significantly smaller than the earlier ones were.

160623-Bryn Euryn-Orchids in long grass

23/6/16-Bryn Euryn-Pyramidal Orchids in long grass

160623-Bryn Euryn-46-Pyramidal Orchid in landscape

23/6/16-Bryn Euryn-Pyramidal Orchid in the wider landscape

Pyramidal Orchid– Anacampsis pyramidalis; Welsh – Teigeirian bera

This orchid may be found flowering from early June through to early August, but here it is definitely at its peak now and flowering abundantly.

In general, the Pyramidal Orchid is found on grassland, usually on lime or chalk, but also on dunes. It is locally common in most of Britain, but rare in Scotland.

 

23/6/16-Pyramidal Orchid-Bryn Euryn

23/6/16-Pyramidal Orchid-Bryn Euryn

160623-Bryn Euryn-55-Pyramidal Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid

The plant is so-named for the shape of the flowerhead: a workaday name for such an exotic-looking bloom I think, although it does help to distinguish it from the Fragrant Orchid, with which it may be confused.

The plant’s success and abundance may be due to its relationship with insects. Each flower has a long thread-like spur that holds a generous supply of nectar that attracts day and night flying butterflies and moths. When the nectar is accessed, modified stamens stick to the tongue of the insect that straighten during the insect’s flight and are then pushed directly onto the stigma of the next flower visited. This results in viable seeds being produced in 95% of the flowers.

Crossing the hill’s summit and walking through the ‘downland’ area, more Orchids are blooming prolifically, these being Common Spotted Orchids.

160623-46-Orchids in long grass among young trees

Common Spotted Orchids -Bryn Euryn-Little Orme in background

Common Spotted Orchids -Bryn Euryn-Little Orme in background

160623-55-Common Spotted Orchid 1

Flower spikes of plants on Bryn Euryn vary in colour. Most are this lilac-purple colour, others are white with a few in shades between.

Common Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii; Welsh Teigeiren Brych

The flowers vary from white to pale or dark purple and are patterned with dots or small blotches of a darker purple.

The leaves are narrow and usually dark-spotted.

 

160703-Bryn Euryn-Common Spotted Orchid

3/7/16-Bryn Euryn-Common Spotted Orchid in long grass amidst Common Rockrose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Into the woods, led by the nose

24 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Nature of Wales, nature of woodlands, nature photography, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

common shrew, common spotted orchid, greenbottle flies on shrew carcass, greenbottle fly, honeysuckle, medicinal plants, Pyramidal Orchid

Bryn Euryn’s woodland trail is a circular route that travels more or less around the circumference of the bottom of the hill and is a good one to follow if you want a ‘proper’ walk without too many distractions. That’s not to say there isn’t anything to see; on my walks there is always something that catches my eye, or as happened on one particular evening, my nose!

I had rejoined this trail after my diversion onto the more open hillside where I had earlier watched the butterflies, and by the time I reached there it was late afternoon and a little cooler; just the time to catch the intermittent scent of honeysuckle, which for me is the absolutely perfect fragrance. The fresh perfume of the honeysuckle takes me back to walking through shady summer woods as a child when the heavenly scent brought the plant to my attention and I would always have to find it and inhale more of it. In fact I still do that; I just cannot resist it.

Honeysuckle – Lonicera periclymenum

Honeysuckle clambering up a tall holly shrub

Honeysuckle clambering up a tall holly shrub

Therapeutic and medicinal uses

I remember being very disappointed when, training as an aromatherapist, I learnt that Honeysuckle is not an essential oil that is practical to use for therapeutic massage. It is very difficult to extract the oil on a commercial basis, so it ends up being very expensive and difficult to obtain in an ‘absolute’ or pure form; any you buy is likely to have been mixed with something else.  It is more widely used as a component of perfume. Shame, because the essential oil supposedly has some wonderful properties and if it had been practical to use I probably could have used it by the bucketful!

“Honeysuckle aids one to get past mental regrets, and move forward freely in life. It’s captivating scent is able to instil love and beauty, and banish any fear and sadness brought about by such events as divorce, death, and loneliness. The oil allows one to overcome harshness, indulge in self-renewal, and inspires hope, progress, freedom, and unity.”

Honeysuckle lit by evening sun in a hedgerow, Nevern, Pembrokeshire

Honeysuckle lit by evening sun in a hedgerow, Nevern, Pembrokeshire

Honeysuckle has been used medicinally for thousands of years to treat respiratory conditions, diarrhoea, ease childbirth, and stimulate the flow of energy throughout the body. Aromadendrene, a terpenoid, is a constituent of honeysuckle essential oil, which contributes to the oil’s antimicrobial properties. The terpenoid inhibits growth of micro-organisms, such as, bacteria, fungi, and protozoans. Eugenol, a phenylpropene, which is known to be a restorative and has a palliative effect, meaning it relieves pain and prevents further suffering.

Honeysuckle blossoms

Honeysuckle blossoms

I was soon snapped out of my state of  pleasant reminiscence brought about by the aromatic honeysuckle as my olfactory sense was assailed by a far less pleasant smell, immediately recognisable as that arising from something that has died. Never one to shirk the responsibility of  recording all aspects of the nature I come across on my wanderings, I followed my nose regardless, although trying not to breathe through it. I soon found the source of the stench: another little shrew had passed away; probably murdered by another cat. It was creating a mighty smell for something so tiny in life, but it would have attracted my attention anyway as there were a dozen or more Greenbottle flies swarming over its tiny body. (Those of a squeamish nature should probably look away now!)

Greenbottle flies on the carcass of a dead shrew

Greenbottle flies on the carcass of a dead shrew

I know it’s not nice, but we all know that nature is not always about pretty flowers, butterflies and birds singing. Everything dies and it is actually interesting to see what benefits from that; it is often insects that are responsible for completing the circle of life. And, sorry, I do find Greenbottle flies very interesting.

Greenbottle Fly- Lucilia sericata

The Common Green bottle fly is a blow-fly, a member of the family Calliphoridae, is the most well-known of the numerous green bottle fly species and found in most areas of the world. It is 10–14 mm long, slightly larger than a housefly, and has brilliant, metallic, blue-green or golden colouration with black markings. It has short, sparse black bristles (setae) and three cross-grooves on the thorax. The wings are clear with light brown veins, and the legs and antennae are black.

Common Greenbottle Fly

Common Greenbottle Fly-Rhos-on-Sea garden

The  fly is found feeding on flowers, but is also a common visitor to carrion and faeces. The female greenbottle lays a mass of eggs in a wound, a carcass or corpse, or in necrotic or decaying tissue. (A single female typically lays 150-200 eggs per batch and may produce 2,000 to 3,000 eggs in its lifetime.)  The eggs hatch out in about 8–10 hours in warm moist weather, but may take as long as three days in cooler weather.

Greenbottle flies

Greenbottle flies were most numerous on the corpse, but there are two other species there too

Forensic science

Like most Calliphorids, the insect has been heavily studied and its life cycle and habits well documented and L. sericata is an important species to forensic entomologists. One of the first insects to colonise a corpse, the stage of the insect’s development is used to calculate the period of colonization, so that it can be used to aid in determining the time of death of the victim.

Veterinary importance

L. sericata, along with other species of blowfly also makes an impact in a veterinary sense. In the UK and Australia it is commonly referred to as the “sheep blowfly” since sheep are its primary, although not sole host.

In Northern Europe, the fly will lay its eggs in sheep wool. The larvae then migrate down the wool to feed directly on the surface of the animal’s skin, which can cause massive lesions and secondary bacterial infections. In the UK, it is estimated that blowfly strike affects 1 million sheep as well as 80% of sheep farms each year. This causes a huge economic impact in these regions: it costs money to treat infected animals and to take measures to control L. sericata populations.

To end on a pleasanter note, here are some more flowers I found along the woodland trail that same evening:

Foxgloves are not common here, but there were a couple of stems of them; tall now and maybe a little more than half-way to being finished.

Foxgloves are about half-way to being over

Foxgloves are about half-way to being over

Amongst the grass and other tougher plants on the path edge a pretty Common Spotted  Orchid pushed through.

A Common Spotted Orchid on the side of the trail

A Common Spotted Orchid on the side of the trail

Further along, in quite deep shade I was surprised to find another Pyramidal Orchid.

Another Pyramidal Orchid

Another Pyramidal Orchid

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‘But it is the common species that keep the living world ticking over and provide most of our experiences of wildlife, and I would argue that maintaining the abundance of these is as important a conservation priority as maintaining the existence of rarities’. Richard Mabey

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