Orchid Hunting

A second very hot day, and unlike yesterday when I lazed in the garden all day, I thought I'd try for some fairly local Helleborines: Violet and Broad-leaved at Sherradspark Woods in Welwyn and Danemead Wood in Broxbourne.

I'd never been to Sherardspark Woods before and it's pretty large. I had some vague directions as to where to find the orchids (the 'north section' and around the railway embankment) but despite several hours of looking, failed to locate any. Marbled White in a patch of meadow just outside the wood was the best sighting.

So on to Broxbourne woods. I'd spent way too long at the previous site so had to forgo my plans to search for Purple Emperor at the spot where I helped find it all those years ago, and concentrate on the orchids. I hadn't been to Danemead for a number of years, it used to be one of the favoured sites to take the boys when they were small as, after rain the woods flooded and we'd build bridges and race sticks! Very dry today. Again, I struggled with the orchids, finding one partly eaten plant that I'm guessing was Broad-leaved, but could have been Violet.

Not the most successful of afternoons, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Sherrardspark Wood
17 July 2016 12:31 - 16:01
Sunny 23C 4WNW
Magpie, Jay (heard), Carrion Crow, Goldcrest (heard), Blue Tit (heard), Great Tit (heard), Long-tailed Tit (heard), Chiffchaff (heard), Blackcap (heard), Treecreeper (heard), Wren (heard), Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock (heard), Chaffinch (heard), Rabbit, Grey Squirrel, Bank Vole, Large White, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Brown Hawker

Broxbourne Wood
17 July 2016 16:34 - 18:00
Sunny 23C 4WNW
Magpie, Jay, Goldcrest (heard), Long-tailed Tit (heard), Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Rabbit, Grey Squirrel, Muntjac, Large White