Violet Helleborine

After the storms the world felt washed clean, and the lower temperatures made walking much more comfortable. Today Pete was teaching a leafhopper course at Ring Haw, so after dropping him off I nipped over to Old Sulehay Quarry where the Woolly Thistle was in full flower. Most plants had one or more of the Tephritid fly Terellia longicauda, whose larvae feed internally on the capitulum. These silvery flies blend in perfectly with the host plant, but have the most amazingly coloured rainbow eyes (see extra).

After lunch I picked up Chris and Lizzy and we went off to Bedford Purlieus in search of Violet Helleborine. A couple of botanists on Twitter had given me some detailed information regarding the location, so I was fairly optimistic that we'd find them. It took us a little longer than we'd hoped, (the wood is very large!) but eventually we found the right place. Deer are very prone to eating orchid flowers and one clump that had been beautiful last week had been completely decimated. But we found two perfect flowering spikes and both Chris and I spent some time trying to get decent shots. This orchid grows in densely canopied woodland with very little light penetration - in hindsight we probably should have taken a tripod, but even that might not have worked as there was a definite breeze which was moving the flowering spike.  There is a more sparkly version in extras.