Early purple orchid

This was going to be the first in a series of studies of the Cumbria orchid species, 32 of them in total. The original plan was to find them and blip them all in the same year, starting now with the early purple and finishing in September with the Autumn lady's tresses.

But I've decided to defer the project until I have more time - to track down the ones I have never seen, to put together a bit more of a story of their biology and ecology, and to write up the accounts as well as I can. In any event it's not an original idea, there have been two contrasting books published recently of botanists searching out all of the UK orchids in a single year. Memories dim, but I'm pretty sure that I was thinking of the Cumbria orchid blip project before I knew of either of those, and I wanted to have a portfolio of photographs that showed them at their best. It was one of the things that was going through my mind in 2017 when I wasn't too well. There are several species which I have never seen, and I was looking forward to a time when I would be fit enough again to go looking for them.

The early purples of Arnside Knott have suddenly all appeared in the warmer weather. This one was in bud on Good Friday before we went away, and there were few others to be seen. It's the queen of the population, a taller spire of flowers than the others around it. The main photograph shows the flowering spike in close-up, set against the trunk of one of my favourite ash trees with its large grey lichen. The extra shows the whole plant with its spotted leaves, and gives a bit more of a clue as to its habitat.

ps Gus update. Wifie took him out for an urgent visit just before midnight last night. When she came back, she could hear something buzzing in her hair. She tried to free it and was stung by what turned out to be a rather large wasp. Mercifully, Gus does seem more settled this evening, so hopefully we shall all sleep well tonight.