spot the frog

...my Met Office weather app claimed that, this afternoon, we would see wall to wall sunshine. This was not something I was prepared to believe, but the idea of any sunshine at all was a beguiling one, which I was determined to exploit. The incessant June 2012 wind still had Dorset in her clutches so I thought I would test my theory that heading inland would take us into calmer territory. I was proved wrong! That said, we had a fantastic and successful afternoon.

Our destination was Badbury Rings, which is in the hands of the National Trust and forms part of the huge Kingston Lacey legacy that, at the time, was the largest the NT had ever received. Kingston Lacey was the new home of the Bankes family following the restoration of the Monarchy. The family's former seat being Corfe Castle, which Cromwell had destroyed.

The journey to Badbury Rings, takes us past Charborough House, the grounds of which boast one of the longest brick walls in the country. I mention the house in particular because it was the seat of Sir Walter Erle, Governor of Dorchester and commander of the Parliamentary forces that besieged Corfe Castle in 1646. The house has been in the same family since Elizabethan times and the present occupier, Richard Drax, is the MP for Dorset South. For all the Hardy fans out there, it was also the model for Welland House in his novel Two on a Tower.

The road adjacent to Badbury Rings is an avenue of Beech Trees that was planted in 1835 by William John Bankes as a gift for his mother. There are 366 trees on one side and 365 on the other, representing the number of days in a leap year and standard year respectively. It is the second longest avenue of its type in Europe, the other being in Clumber Park.

Badbury Rings itself, was an Iron Age fortified village occupied by a tribe called Durotriges who were fiercely and futilely] opposed to the Roman invasion. There are three concentric rings of banks and ditches that, together with the surrounding meadows, are a haven for wild flowers and, in particular, both rare and common orchids. At the end of June, we are in a transition between the early and late flowering orchids but, even so, we quickly found six different species, including the one I was hoping to capture for today's blip. Nobody would fail to find the Pyramidal or Common Spotted Orchids because they number in their thousands at this site! Common Twayblade was plentiful and there was a good showing of Common Fragrant Orchids. Harder to find were the Bee Orchids and, finally, the Frog Orchids that I had come for.

Frog Orchids are not exactly the most beautiful of flowers. In fact, it is hard to understand how they can even be in the same Genus as the Common Spotted etc. Also hard to work out is how they came by their name. Bee Orchids and others that resemble invertebrates, are not difficult to comprehend but, can you spot the frog? ...