Early Purple Orchid.
If you have not got google earth here is the table and map of where we need to look this year.



Table of records of Early purple orchids that have been made pre -2000 in need of checking this year with google earth map showing distribution

No.	Date 1	Date 2	Site	Location	Gridref	Tetrad
1	24-Jun-1949	27-Aug-1950	Blackgrove Wood		SP97902362	SP92R
2	9-Jul-1949	5-Sep-1950	Holcot Wood		SP95904022	SP94K
3	17-May-1953	17-May-1953	Marston Thrift		SP94Q	SP94Q
4	4-Jun-1987	4-Jun-1987	Hanger Wood SSSI		SP998498	SP94Z
5	16-Jun-1993	25-Jul-1993	Dungee Wood and Odell Plantation CWS	Dungee Wood	SP933595	SP95J
6	1953	1953	Hardwick Spinney		SP979509	SP95Q
7	1976	1986	Great Oaks Wood tetrad		SP95R	SP95R
8	1972	1972	Podington (South) tetrad		SP96K	SP96K
9	22-May-1999	22-May-1999	Masons Plantation, Studham (v.c. 20)		TL010154	TL01C
10	c.1920	c.1920	Markham Hills		TL0629	TL02U
11	1976	1986	Thrift Wood tetrad		TL03S	TL03S
12	2-Jun-1995	2-Jun-1995	Chicksands Wood CWS		TL094395	TL03Z
13	18-May-1995	18-May-1995	Lark Hill CWS		TL067412	TL04Q
14	10/07/1994	10/07/1994	Claphampark Wood CWS		TL046528	TL05L
15	1976	1986	Thurleigh South		TL05N	TL05N
16	27-Apr-1994	5-May-1997	Renhold	Marsh Wood	TL072531	TL05R
17	7-May-1959	7-May-1959	Ravensden Wood		TL05S	TL05S
18	1970	1975	Temple Wood tetrad		TL06A	TL06A
19	1972	1972	Knotting tetrad		TL06B	TL06B
20	27-May-1996	27-May-1996	Yelden Meadows SSSI		TL010674	TL06D
21	9-May-1989	9-May-1989	Melchbourne Woods CWS	Lady Wood	TL03446421	TL06H
22	1-Jan-1997	31-Dec-1997	Keysoepark Wood CWS		TL055622	TL06L
23	1973	1973	Middle Lodge tetrad		TL06S	TL06S
24	1972	1972	Bolnhurst Spinney tetrad		TL06V	TL06V
25	1976	1986	Lower Gravenhurst tetrad		TL13C	TL13C
26	19-May-1992	19-May-1992	Cainhoepark Wood CWS		TL111374	TL13D
27	1976	1986	Ickwell Green tetrad		TL14M	TL14M
28	1-Jan-1989	31-Dec-1989	Colmworth	Colmworth Church End tetrad	TL15E	TL15E
29	2-May-1987	1-Aug-1987	Waterloo Thorns CWS		TL179518	TL15Q
30	31-May-1987	13-Jul-1987	Waterloo Thorns CWS		TL181518	TL15V
31	7-May-1994	7-May-1994	Bushmead CWS		TL115604	TL16A
32	1976	1986	Hook Wood tetrad		TL16F	TL16F
33	1867	1867	Basmead Manor		TL16K	TL16K
34	1976	1986	Woodbury Sinks tetrad		TL25B	TL25B

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!

Hello everyone, there is a meeting of the Bedfordshire Natural History Society on:-

TUESDAY 18th FEBRUARY at Maulden Village Hall TL048380 at 7.45 pm

‘ Update on the Bedfordshire Orchid project and where efforts are needed to be directed for the coming season’ by Richard Revels, Chris Boon, and Graham Bellamy.              

Go to http://www.bnhs.org.uk/    the BNHS web site to find a location map under events.

Hope to see you on the 18th!

Happy New Year

 

Thank you to everyone who sent in orchid records in 2013, I hope you all had a happy Christmas. 

There are lots of records, and i`m sure Chris has been busy thinking of areas for priority survey for the coming year.

 

While we will hope to fill in the gaps in distribution and look for species not recorded in 2013, please do send in records  for orchids from any areas you visit, even if you visited and submitted records in 2013; particularly if you made a count. It will be interesting to see how flowering and numbers vary over the two year survey period.

 

 

Birdsnest orchid..not recorded 2013

 

If you have records still to submit, these wet windy days are a good opportunity to dig out the field notebooks and empty them onto the orchid adnoto form on the BNHS web site...all will be gratefully received.

 

Also do report in any appearance of leaves of orchids..although some bees were up in September it looks like others have has a "lie in" and are only just thinking about coming up! Good luck.







Leaves us in little doubt...

Bee Orchid with 5 growing points October Lower Sundon

 The mild end of summer and early autumn has allowed some orchid development that i have not noticed until into December before.

 The bee orchid leaves shown above must have been growing from September and are already well grown and large specimens. It is worthwhile having a look at any colonies you know of..are the leaves already showing? Will leaves continue to emerge from plants that are still below ground  over the winter?.. do let us know.

The Bedfordshire Lizard orchid prepares for 2014!

 The Lizard orchid, not to be outdone by the bees, has also grown to a handsome size already.

If you find large orchid leaves do make a note and tell us it may well be there are more of them out there..perhaps not getting past the ravages of hungry molluscs and flowering. This one has already been nibbled.

Man Orchid shoot at Totternhoe October

The Totternhoe men are also just begining to show above ground. As are shoots of Burnt orchid at Pegsdon. Fly Orchid on the other hand do not seem to be up yet.

Knowing when leaves are up and vulnerable to grazing or trampling will help in planning the management of these grassland orchids.

As these orchids prepare for next year the Autumn Lady`s Tresses are just finishing seeding. Perhaps the St Jude storm has scattered ALT seed far and wide...we will have to wait six or seven years to find out...the probable time it takes from seed to flowering plant.

Which other species are showing leaves at the moment..please have a look and let us know.

It would seem one life-time is not enough to study these plants...but lets make sure that our leg is at least run as well as we can do when the batton is hopefully handed on in the years to come, i`m sure there will be surprises and many points of interest on the way.

Do keep your records coming in...keep an eye out for leaves in lawns and new places as well as old

Empty those note books of records onto adnoto..we have had a cracking year with much to look forward to for the coming season.

Best wishes to all!

Tresses round up a very good year for orchids

Autumn Lady`s -tresses

What a good year we have had for orchids. There have been over 1300 entries to the Orchid Adnoto system representing many thousand of plants.

Over 120 people have contributed to the survey!
 
Chris will have the challenge  to deal with this data and highlight the gaps to be checked next year.

There is still time to check your local wood and woodland ride edges for helleborines so do make use of the remaining fine days to get out and about.

We have learnt a good deal about our orchids; not only where they are but also something about their natural history. Man orchids have shed their seeds while the musk orchids are still with green pods that will take a few more weeks to mature...all useful information to know before these chalk grasslands are managed by grazing!

Our final orchid of the late summer is now out. Autumn Lady`s -tresses has just one known site in Bedfordshire now at Pegsdon. Dony records it as rare with pre 1880 records at Thurleigh, Crow hills near Clapham, Pavenham, Exeter wood, and Haynes. It may still be present in these and other areas.

During the drought of 1976 plants were reported to be flowering on a number of uncut grass tennis courts in the Chilterns. Diminuitive and fragile this species is a fitting plant to end the succession of orchids for this year.
Even if you have not got a grass tennis court...cut or uncut..it is still worthwhile keeping a weather eye for these lovely little spikes.

Good hunting as always!