Bedfordshire Orchid Group

Dear all...They`re back!!!..below is a reposting of last years early purple blog.

Lazy of me i know...but do get out and look for these lovely plants now and over easter.

Keep an eye on the blog as i will be posting details of previous records of EPO, prior to 2000, that we have not had recent records for...there are a lot in the north of the county!!

As a starter Keith Balmer`s wizardry has enabled us to have a Google earth layer for these missing or lost colonies.  If you have Google Earth, paste the link below into your browser and see what happens..
http://www.bnhs.co.uk/main/docs/orchids/Early-purple%20Orchid-yellow%20markers.kmz

Zoom in on any marker, or an area near you. Click on the yellow markers and you will get information on when they were last recorded and where they were recorded from.

 Some of the records are specific to a wood and have grid references within the wood which will help searching. Others were only recorded as being within a Tetrad...that is within a square 2km by 2km... so you will have to do some detective work to look at what habitats are within the tetrad and try and go and have a look. In Bedfordshire EPO`s are almost all in woodland...so get the Deer Stalker on...grab the camera and OS map...and get out there.

As always good luck...let me know how you get on with the google layer!!!

 

EPO`s

Late March into April is a good time to begin to visit local woodlands to look for leaves of the early purple orchid. These are our earliest flowering orchid along with the green winged, and can be found in woodland and grassland, but most usually in old woodland, particularly those with bluebells.

Early purple orchid in Potton wood

The leaves are usually well spotted with purple blotches and spots, although unspotted plants may occur. The leaves are glossy green and the spots and blotches although often circular tend to be elongated along the leaf.

Early purple orchid leaves

They may be confused with other spotted leaf orchids particularly common spotted which tend to have non glossy leaves and when they are spotted tend to have elongated spots across the leaf; but this is not foolproof!

Common spotted orchid leaves

Early purples are one of the plants when found in woodland that indicates that woodland has long been present in that locality so many other plants of interest may be present.

Do let us know how you are getting on, we hope for and look forward to a busy and enjoyable spring and early summer. Good luck!