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Tag Archives: early purple orchid

Bryn Euryn walk continued: Part 3

08 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Local Nature Reserves, Nature of Wales, Wildflowers of Wales

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Tags

Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, cowslip, early purple orchid, orchis mascula, primula veris, rhos on sea, views from Bryn Euryn, wildflowers of Bryn Euryn

The views from the Bryn are always worth the steep climb up to the top and change according to the season, the weather and the time of day. The southerly side overlooks part of Rhos-on-Sea and part of Colwyn Bay town, divided by the duel-carriageway of the A55, whose traffic noise can be loud and rather intrusive, so not the spot to  seek peace and quiet. Beyond is Colwyn Bay and inland a patchwork of woodlands, golden gorse and neat farmed fields set upon rolling hillsides sloping around and down to the Conwy river and estuary.

Panoramic view from the south of the summit of Bryn Euryn

The gorgeous view from the south side of Bryn Euryn (click to enlarge)

I was heading now towards the true summit, where the not-too-beautiful triangulation (trig) point marks the highest point.

The trig point on the summit of Bryn Euryn looking south-south-easterly (ish)

The trig point on the summit of Bryn Euryn looking south to south-easterly (ish)

Last year there was an impressive patch of at least a hundred Early Purple Orchids on the approaching grassy slope (behind  the other side of the rocky bit in the photograph), but this year although there are still a good number there are a lot less. Having said that, those I saw are beautiful specimens, of good height and their stems thick with flowers. The success of Orchids is affected by seasonal weather, they are affected by drought, numbers may vary even in areas they otherwise frequent, which is part of their allure of course.Their less than predictable appearance and their wonderfully exotic beauty combine to make each discovery just as exciting as it was last year or the year before.

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I can still remember the excitement of discovering my first Early Purple Orchid, growing exactly where it should be, on the floor of the old woodland next to our house. I was probably about aged ten at the time and had no idea what it was, but it looked very special to me and I couldn’t wait to look it up in my ‘Observer’s Book of Wild Flowers’, which I still treasure because I love the descriptions written by the lady author of the book. I would quote it here but it’s currently in a box in a storage unit in Spain, so I’ll have to manage without for now.

Early Purple Orchid –  Orchis mascula

Early Purple Orchids-Orchis mascula

Early Purple Orchids-Orchis mascula

In flower from April to June, the Early Purple Orchid is a species of old broadleaved woodlands, where they are generally widespread, but they also occur in rich grasslands, on road verges, on limestone pavement and on heathy ground in the South and West of the British Isles.

‘Therewith fantastic garlands did she make

Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples

That liberal shepherds give a grosser name’

But our cull-cold maids do dead-men’s fingers call them’.

It is claimed that when William Shakespeare wrote those lines in Hamlet, his ‘long purples’ referred to the Early-purple Orchid.  The lines were spoken by Gertrude and referred to the coronet which Ophelia was wearing when she drowned.

A short-medium perennial that can reach 40cm, the stem is also often flushed with purple. There are usually 3-5 unstalked basal leaves, oblong in shape, pointed, parallel-veined and glossy green blotched with purple.

Flower colour can vary in shade from quite a dark purplish-red to pink or even white and are distributed in  dense or loose spikes of between 10-30 flowers. Each flower has a narrow purple bract, purplish-grey ovary, three sepals and three petals.

Flowers of Early Purple Orchid

Flowers of Early Purple Orchid

Side sepals spread backwards, upper one joins to the upper two petals to form a hood; lower petal forms tri-lobed spurred crimson-dotted lip, 8-12mm long. At the back of the flower one unstalked anther holds two pollen masses on stalks that adhere to heads of visiting insects for cross-pollination; below the anther the stigma surface receives pollen brought from other flowers.

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A few minutes taking in the view more or less east towards the mountains on the edge of Snowdonia , then onwards and downwards via the grassy slope on the north side of the hill.

The A55 snakes towards  the Conwy Estuary with view of Snowdonia beyond

The A55 snakes towards the Conwy River & Estuary with views of Snowdonia beyond

The rough grassy area was, as I’d hoped, generously sprinkled with Cowslips. Not as showy as the Orchids or as bright as the Rockroses, but with a special understated beauty of their own. I was slightly concerned I may have missed them at their best as they are flowers I associate more with late April-early May, but thanks to the late start to Spring this year I caught them just in time before they start to ‘go over’.

A field full of Cowslip

A field full of Cowslips, their heads held aloft on stiff stems were dancing in the wind like little flags

Cowslip -Primula veris

I have a great affection for Cowslips and seeing them growing in numbers in a grassy meadow takes me back to my childhood in an instant. In Northamptonshire, where I grew up in the 50s and 60s, lovely golden-yellow cowslips were numerous, particularly in the damper grass meadows grazed by cows. One of life’s little treats back in the day was to pull a flower from its little green sack and suck the nectar from the base of the tube. And before it became necessary to ban the picking of wild flowers, we used to pick bunches of them for the house  as they have nice long stems and looked lovely in a jam jar on the kitchen windowsill. We picked them to add to garlands and to decorate  the ‘throne’ for the May Queen during our school’s Mayday celebrations. Occasionally we even got to pick lots of them to be made into Cowslip wine.

Cowslip- Primula veris

Cowslip- Primula veris

I assure you though, it wasn’t our picking that caused the Cowslip’s serious decline, we couldn’t possibly have picked even all of those growing in a single field. It had much more to do with the rise of intensive farming and old grassland being ploughed over to create more space for growing other crops.

Thankfully the plant’s numbers are on the rise again, partly due to raised awareness but probably owing  more to the sowing of seed on roadside verges and in wildflower meadows. So once again the Cowslip can raise its  graceful nodding heads above the grass blades and be counted in generous numbers once again. I won’t be picking any though, just taking photographs.

130522TGLNR-flr-Cowslip flowerhead with fly-Bryn Euryn (4)

The leaves of the Cowslip are wrinkly and hairy and form a basal rosette, similar to those of the Primrose. 

The yellow-orange flowers (8-15mm) are held in a one-sided umbel which is borne on a softly hairy, sturdy stem.  The individual flowers are comprised of five joined petals, each flower bearing orange spots in the centre, and are deliciously scented.

Cowslips and plaintains

Cowslips and plaintains

A final gaze at the view from here over the tops of the trees below, across the golf course to Penrhyn Bay and on the horizon the Little Orme skirted on its left side by the road to Llandudno climbing Penrhyn Hill.

View from the north side of Bryn Euryn

View from the north side of Bryn Euryn

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Blooming Bryn Euryn

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, flower folklore, Local Nature Reserves, Nature, nature of woodlands, nature photography, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

cowslip, Dandelion, early purple orchid, flower folklore about cowslip, hart's tongue fern, hawthorn in flower, welsh poppy, white-tailed bumblebee, wild strawberry, wildflowers of Bryn Euryn, woodland flowers, woodruff

The local nature reserve on Bryn Euryn is a popular venue for a wide variety of walkers and is not usually the place I head for if I fancy a long peaceful walk. But, if you happen to get the timing right there are occasions when you can meander around and almost have the place to yourself. So it was on a damp afternoon a couple of weeks ago when I went there just to see what there was to see.

The small meadow next to car park was golden with dandelions that were attracting the attention of a number of bumblebees.

Dandelion – taraxacum officinale -visited by a white-tailed bumblebee

Some of the flowers have already gone to seed.

Dandelion seed head

Harts Tongue ferns are a feature of the local woodlands here and already quite well grown.

Harts tongue fern. The plants grow on neutral and lime-rich substrates, including moist soil and damp crevices in old walls, most commonly in shaded situations but occasionally in full sun.

The new leaves are a bright shiny green

Harts Tongue Fern – Phyllitis scolopendrium. The plants are unusual in the genus of ferns as they have  simple, undivided fronds. The leaves are 10–60 cm long and 3–6 cm broad, with sori (A sorus (pl. sori) is a cluster of sporangia (structures producing and containing spores) that are arranged in rows perpendicular to the rachis. ) In plants a rachis is the main axis of the inflorescence or spike. In ferns it is also the part of the axis to which the pinnae are attached.

The plant’s common name derives from the shape of its fronds, being thought to resemble a deer’s tongue: hart was an alternative  word for “stag”, from the Old English heorot, “deer”. The sori pattern is reminiscent of a centipede’s legs, and scolopendrium is Latin for “centipede”. 

This fern was recommended as a medicinal plant in folk medicine as a spleen tonic and for other uses.

Whilst still in the cover of woodland I spotted a Long-tailed Tit foraging amongst tree branches and a Song Thrush out on the  path also hunting. I saw and heard several Robins, Blue and Great Tits and Chiffchaff. A family of Magpie were also out and about, five of them up near the summit and there were Greenfinch lower down around the carpark.

I changed my route slightly today, mainly to avoid the uphill track through the woodland which was very muddy and quite slippery, choosing instead a surfaced one that leads around the base of the Bryn (hill). Happily, being more open and less shaded, there were plants growing here I would otherwise have missed.

Wild strawberry plants growing along the edge of a woodland track

Wild strawberry – Fragaria vesca very much resembles a miniature garden strawberry and similarly produces delicious tiny sweet berries. It is a very common plant throughout the British Isles and Western Europe found growing on all but strongly acid or waterlogged soils.

Hairy stalks bear 3 oval leaflets, also hairy and a bright shiny green. The leaflets have strong side veins, are broadest above the middle with sharp marginal teeth.

There is a similar-looking plant, the Barren Strawberry, which has duller grey-green leaves.

I was really pleased to find a Welsh poppy in flower along here, I used to have them in my garden when we lived in South Wales and loved them, especially where they seeded themselves amongst blue forget-me-nots.

Welsh Poppy -papaver cambricum

The Welsh Poppy has been adopted as the logo of the Welsh political party, Plaid Cymru

The Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica) is a perennial plant native to south-western England, Wales, Ireland and Western Europe. Its favoured habitat is damp, shady places on rocky ground, and although its common name is ‘welsh poppy’, it is also native to south-western England, Wales, Ireland and Western Europe. In its most westerly locations, it is increasingly found on more open ground with less cover. It is also especially well adapted to colonising gaps and crevices in rocks and stones, which has enabled it to colonise urban environments, sometimes growing between paving slabs and at the edges of walls.

A grey squirrel paused in its tracks on a tree branch, keeping one eye fixed on me

Another favourite plant from my childhood, the cowslip, was also present here growing along the path edges, so I was sure there would be more once I reached the grassy slope of the lower hillside. I was not disappointed, there were beautiful masses of them.

Part of a mass of flowering cowslips

Cowslip – Primula veris

Cowslip – Primula veris, also variously known as Herb Peter, Paigle, Peggle, Key Flower, Key of Heaven, Fairy Cups, Petty Mulleins, Crewel, Buckles, Palsywort, Plumrocks.

According to folklore, cowslips first grew from the ground where St Peter dropped his keys and this is recorded in the French, German, and Old English names (clef de Saint Pierre, Schlusselblumen, and Key of Heaven respectively). The name cowslip, on the other hand, derives from the old English name, cūslyppe  or cowslop, because the plant used to grow best in meadows frequented by herds of cows.

The species name vēris means “of spring”.

Despite its pungent choice of habitat, the flowers of the cowslip have a lovely, almost-apricot scent and not so long ago were sufficiently and reliably abundant to allow them to be picked and used to make deliciously fragrant cowslip wine. (Now of course it is illegal to pick flowers from the wild so if you want to try it you’d have to find an alternative supply.) Cowslip is frequently found on more open ground than Primula vulgaris (primrose) including open fields, meadows, and coastal dunes and clifftops. Nowadays the seeds are often included in wild-flower seed mixes used to landscape motorway banks and similar civil engineering earth-works where the plants may be seen in dense stands.

Herbal medicine

The traditional medicinal uses of cowslip are widespread and the different parts of the plant are still commonly used to treat a variety of complaints as wide ranging as lung disorders, insomnia, gout,arthritis and anxiety. The herb is also reputed to have beneficial effects on the heart . (Active ingredients include saponin glycosides, including primulic acid, primulaveroside, and primveroside; volatile oil; tannins; flavonoids, including luteolin, apigenin, kaempferol, and quercetin; phenolic glycosides). Its flowers and leaves are rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene, potassium, calcium, sodium and salicylates which help strengthen the immune system through its antioxidant properties and by lowering the cholesterol level.

Cowslip can effectively alleviate headaches but is not recommended to those who are allergic to aspirins, because of its high quantity of salicylates (the main basis for aspirin).

This herb is also used in cosmetics, used as an ingredient in face creams for its regenerating effects.

The cowslips were wonderful, but an even bigger treat were the orchids, masses of pretty early purple ones.

Orchids are always a special sight, especially the first ones to flower, the Early Purple Orchid

Early Purple Orchid-Orchis mascula

Finally lifting my eyes from ground level and the flowers, I was surprised to realise that the highest peak in our view from here across to the mountains of Snowdonia actually had snow on it.

The view to the snow-capped peaks of the Carneddau Mountains

Hawthorn blossom flowering in a sheltered spot

New oak leaves

Amongst some shrubby bushes, including the hawthorn, I came across a little flower I had almost forgotten about as it is so long since I saw it last, the delicate white-flowered Woodruff.

Woodruff- Galium odoratum

Woodruff –Galium odoratum is an herbaceous perennial plant  native to Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. Other common names include woodruff, sweet woodruff, and wild baby’s breath.

It grows to 30-50 cm (12-20 ins.) high but it is a weak-stemmed that is often found lying flat along the ground or supported by other plants it  prefers partial to full shade in moist, rich soils.

The flowers sweet smell is due to the presence of the odiferous agent coumarin; this scent intensifies as the plant wilts that persists on drying, and the dried plant is traditionally used in pot-pourri and as a moth deterrent. It is also used, mainly in Germany, to flavour May wine (called “Maiwein” or “Maibowle” in German), syrup for beer (Berliner Weisse), ice cream, and medicinally as a herbal tea with gentle sedative properties, but beware, high doses can cause headaches, due to the toxicity of coumarin.

A final view of Bluebells & Wild Garlic

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Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve

19 Friday Aug 2011

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

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Tags

ash tree, Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, common rockrose, early purple orchid, hoary rockrose, wildflowers of Bryn Euryn

27th April

I haven’t seen much of the countryside since I’ve  been here in North Wales, other than through a car window, and I was very keen to see some spring flowers and fresh greenery. I know the wildflowers in Spain will be amazing when I get back there next week, but the native British wildflowers have an altogether gentler and more subtle beauty that I love. I have been planning to make a trip to the local nature reserve on Bryn Euryn, and as I will only be in the locality for a couple more days I decided to head there this morning.

Bryn Euryn is a limestone hill rising to 131metres (365 ft) above sea level and a well-loved local landmark of Rhos-on-Sea that is now a Local Nature Reserve. Its slopes are clothed with a mixture of woodland and grassland, part of which has been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest. From its summit their are extensive panoramic views over Rhos-on-Sea and Colwyn Bay and across to the mountains of Snowdonia in the west. 

I parked in the small car park that is surrounded by trees, and as soon as I got out of the car I heard a Chiffchaff ‘singing’. I couldn’t see him,but as I tried to locate his whereabouts a Robin flew into a nearby tree and also began to sing. Moving off towards the beginning of the track that leads up to the summit of the hill I stopped to watch a Song Thrush hunting on the woodland edge where it borders a grassed area.

I soon came upon a patch of bluebells growing alongside some wild garlic whose flowers are almost finished. There were a few wood anemones still flowering, but they too are all but over; wild strawberry plants were flowering along a length of the path edge in dry shade, they have a long flowering period beginning in April and continuing until October, with fruits appearing throughout the summer. It was lovely walking in the dappled shade of the woodland, listening to the birds singing and coming across flowers that gave me the opportunity to make a stop on the fairly steep upward climb. A special find was a sunlit Early Spotted Orchid growing beneath the trees. The presence of this delightful bloom, together with that of bluebells and wood anemones is a sign of an ‘old wood’,  indicating that this area has never been anything other than woodland.

Purple Spotted Orchid

Dog Violet

There was a pretty patch of little blue/purple dog violets and the surprise of a Cowslip plant on a steep bank; this one must have strayed from the grassy downland on the other side of the hill; the more usual habitat of Cowslips.

Cowslip

Rock Rose

At the top of the hill you emerge from the woodland onto a surprisingly large expanse of open grassy heathland. There were large patches of yellow flowers growing here, taking a closer look I saw there were of two separate species; I recognised rock rose, but was unfamiliar with the other. Looking it up when I got home I realised it was Hoary Rockrose, one of the plants named on the information board in the car park that is apparently very scarce in the British Isles.

Hoary Rockrose – Helianthemum canum

The views from the top here are truly spectacular, extending from the Little Orme around and across Rhos-on-Sea and Colwyn Bay with the mountains of Snowdonia to the west. The only downside, at least from this side of the hilltop, was the traffic noise arising from the busy A55.

A panoramic view of Rhos-on-Sea and Colwyn Bay

View from Bryn Euryn summit – mountains of Snowdonia on far horizon

View across summit of Bryn Euryn to Conwy Estuary and beyond to Snowdonia

Germander Speedwell

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Turning around I walked across to the other side of the summit, passing through a shrubby area, the woodland edge, where there are shrubs and small trees growing. Here, Hawthorn is in full bloom and I stopped to watch a furry bumblebee as she burrowed into the leafy debris on the ground beneath.

Hawthorn, or May blossom

I discovered another early purple orchid plant here, this one had an earlier, or perhaps even last year’s, dried flower spike attached.

I reached the true summit of the hill, which has a concrete trig point on it that is part of the nationwide network built by the Ordnance survey to create their maps of the UK in the old days before computers.There is also a board depicting how the ancient hill fort may have looked. I was very surprised to come across an extensive patch of orchids here, I roughly counted them and estimated at least 100 flowers.

Summit of Bryn Euryn with Trig point & mass of purple spotted orchids in the foreground

The Fort

The summit of Bryn Euryn was once occupied by a small but strong fortification. This may have been the ‘Bear’s Den’ mentioned by Gidas the Wise and thought to have been a stronghold of Cynlas the ‘Red Butcher’, king in Rhos around the middle of the sixth century. Only the faint traces of the limestone rampart’s foundations are  visible today, protruding through the turf and ringing the summit of the hill, to remind us of its former importance.

It was much quieter and more peaceful on this side of the hill and I sat for a while enjoying the sunshine and the view out to sea and across to the Little Orme.  Two Red Admiral butterflies were flying around the nearby shrubbery, one kept attempting to sun itself on a bramble leaf, the other kept disturbing it, the basking one chased after its disturber then returned to the same spot etc. etc. It took a lot of patience to get the photograph.

Red Admiral basking on new bramble leaf

Speckled Wood on a leaf on the ground

Even trickier to photograph was this Speckled Wood. Once again there were two of the insects chasing one another – these little butterflies are especially territorial, but I wanted to get a photograph as they were much paler in colour than the ones I had been seeing in the garden. That made getting the photograph even harder, as when they did land it was on dried leaves and they were so well camouflaged I couldn’t find them through the lens.

There are some beautiful trees growing here, including Ash, whose leaves are quite well grown now.

new ash leaves

They brought to mind the old country rhyme about their predicting the forthcoming summer weather:-

“Ash before oak, look for a soak, oak before ash, look for a splash”

I had a quick look at a neighbouring oak and would say they were pretty much on a level, so hopefully that means some rain, but not too much.

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