Broad-leaved Helleborine var. purpurea and var. chlorantha, 9 & 10 August 2019

The orchid season that just keeps giving! Normally by this time of year the orchid season is drawing to a close. It's been an unprecedented year for me in terms of recognised variations. Maybe it's because we're all starting to look more closely at individual plants as well as it being a good year but this weekend I've managed to get some nice views of 2 more variations of Broad-leaved Helleborine - var. purpurea and var. chlorantha. Both were growing within 100 meters of each other at Gunton Wood on the northern side of Lowestoft. It took 2 visits to see them armed with directions from friends. The 'purpurea' there is a very small and inconsicuous plant but close up it's a gorgeous looking thing. The 'chlorantha' is a bit bigger but rather subtle and from a distance the inside of the hypochile looks the usual dirty brown colour. Only on close inpsection could it be seen to be green. This is one of the clinching id features for this variation.

A walk to the beach at Gunton Warren on the Friday revealed some nice Sea Holly and Sheeps-bit.

At Southwold on Saturday an adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the boating lake where many Sand Martins were also feeding. There was a noticable steady passage of Swifts going south.

Broad-leaved Helleborine var. purpurea

Broad-leaved Helleborine var. chlorantha

Sea Holly

    Sheeps-bit

Weekend Wanderings, 3 & 4 August 2019

Saturday saw me heading out west and by mid-morning I was hiking out onto Roydon Common in search of odonata. Along the track a small number of Keeled Skimmers were probably the last of this years individuals. A Woodlark flew over calling and I added Yellowhammer and Green Woodpecker before getting to the spot I had directions to. Despite spending a good deal of time looking I was unable to find any Black Darters which were my main target. Ruddy Darters were everywhere including a very yellow-winged individual that had me going briefly! Emerald Damselflies were obviously 'out' and I managed to find a couple of Scarce Emerald Damselflies after much searching. Emperor Dragonflies, Black-tailed Skimmers and Four-spotted Chasers were over the pond and on the way back 5 Common Buzzards circled over.

Ruddy Darter with extensive yellow in wings

Scarce Emerald Damselfly

 Emerald Damseflies

My other site of the day was Dersingham Bog. Here it was a different story entirely as I found c6 Black Darters the minute I reached 'the spot'. They were all males and a couple posed nicely for photos. I then got onto a male Lesser Emperor over the pond which was a very welcome new Norfolk record for me. It was constantly being harried by a pair of Emperor Dragonflies and I lost it after a few minutes. The other highlight of a very nice walk were c8 Stonechats with at least three quarters of them being colour-ringed, including juvs.

Black Darters

 Dersingham Bog Pool

On the way home I called in to Scarning Fen where I failed dismally in finding Small Red Damselfly. I may have left it too late this year as I'm sure I usually go much earlier than August. 3 Marsh Fragrant Orchids and a few Common Spotted Orchids were hanging on and a good numbers of Harebells were looking lovely.

 Marsh Fragrant Orchid

 Common Spotted Orchid (with one curious well marked flower!)

Sunday saw me out with Jeremy and Matt where we went to see the Violet Helleborine var. rosea. It was still present and correct but not looking as good as it was a week ago. We also managed to find 13 Violet Helleborines at the next place we checked and this time most were in flower and looking good.

 Violet Helleborines

The rest of the day was spent in Belstead Brook CP on the edge of Ipswich were we couldn't locate any Brown Hairstreaks. Highlights were a bit thin on the ground but a nice fresh Brown Argus was nice and a Sparrowhawk shot through.            

Rare odonata-fest at Carlton Marshes, 1 August 2019

The wardens at Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Carlton Marshes had very kindly arranged an escorted trip out into the middle of Share Marsh to see some dragonflies. Due to ongoing development work there creating new scrapes access is limited and this was an area not normally open to the public. Indeed it will all be under water very soon!

They guys even kindly drove the small group of us out there to save us walking!

Within just a couple of minutes of arrival we found our first Vagrant Emperor hawking over a small muddy pool. Then it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived and for a while we were just seeing Black-tailed Skimmers and Emperor Dragonfly enlivened by the odd sighting of Red-veined Darter. 2 Green Sandpipers and a Snipe were inadvertently disturbed while a family party of Common Whitethroats had kept me entertained by the carpark.

A flying (attached) pair of large hawkers being followed by a lone male were then picked up and led us all a merry dance for a while. Eventually they began to settle to oviposit a few times and were positively identified as Lesser Emperors. Indeed, this is the ony hawker sp where the female lays eggs while still in tandem. Some discussion ensued with reference to photographs of both rare emperors while we tried to get to grips with the ids! Lesser Emperor is clearly a larger and darker species with a 'wrap round' effect of the pale blue segment at the top of the abdomen. The eyes are a vivid pale green, Vagrant Emperor by comparison is smaller, much more sandy coloured with the pale blue patch being limited to a 'thumb-print' on the top side only.  The eyes are predominantly brown.

We went on to get some fantastic views of at least 2 more Vagrant Emperors but never had one landed. Hence the rather iffy photos of which Ian's are far better than mine!

Lesser Emperors

Red-veined Darter

Vagrant Emperors (2nd 2 pics courtesy of Ian Porter - many thanks)

          Common Whitethroat

The Curious Case of the Mystery Helleborine, 1 August 2019

I had a date at Carlton Marshes yesterday evening (which I'll cover in a separate blog post) so spent a very pleasant couple of hours in the afternoon at Gunton Woods on the north side of Lowestoft.

My aim was to get some photographs of Broad-leaved Helleborines in flower having given them 10 days to advance since my last visit. I found 12 plants in one small area including one of the really nice green specimens. While looking at this my eye ws drawn to a nearby plant which I immediately knew was someting odd. I snapped a few phone pics and sent them to Sean Cole via Twitter. His excited response with a few choice expletives got me very interested so I returned to get some photos of the leaves that he requested. After some offline discussion various things have been suggested including a very unusual looking Broad-leaved, Broad-leaved x Marsh, Violet, Violet x Broad-leaved and even some mention of Dark Red x Broad-leaved (?!) and comments that the lip looks like  Mueller's Helleborine.

The pointed lip that is flared and frilly at the edges, open hypochile, long ovaries and odd positioning of the anther have all got people thinking! The leaves are also much narrower than BLH. My initial thought was BLH x VH but that was onsite before consulting anyone or anything!

The habitat is damp grassland under alder on the edge of mature woodland.

My pictures of it are below

The mystery epipactis!

Broad-leaved Helleborine, green variety

     Broad-leaved Helleborine, typical

As a side - a confiding Stock Dove was under one of the woodland feeders. I even managed a shot with my 55m lens! 

 

Buxton Heath, Cley and Felbrigg, 30 July 2019

Another warm day and with part of the day to spare (before normal life kicked in!) I ventured north of the city today.

I'm a big fan of the Marsh Gentians at Buxton Heath so, as I was heading up the Holt Road anyway I called in. I easily found 4 plants in the same general area as always with one in particular being a real monster with 16 flowers/buds on! It was also pleasing to note a number of freshly emerged Painted Ladies, the 'new' population resulting from the influx of a few weeks back. Willow Warbler and Yellowhammer were both singing.

Dawkes Hide at Cley was my next destination. I didn't spent too long there as time was pressing but in about 30 mins I had 6 Wood Sandpipers, 8 Common Sandpipers, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 juv Little Ringed Plover, 7 Dunlin and plenty of Black-tailed Godwits and Ruff. The drives to Cley and then east to Felbrigg were slow and frustrating. North Norfolk has become a victim of it's own success with so many people. I'm very glad I don't live up there any more and now know why I visit so infrequently!

Felbrigg Lake was, by contrast, nice and relaxed. Bumping into Simon Chidwick we found several male Red-veined Darters, one of which posed nicely in a bare hollow. It was blowing a bit of a gale so Lesser Emperor was a no-show. Nevertheless, Emperors, Brown Hawker, Four-spotted Chasers and Black-tailed Skimmers were patrolling. One large patch of knapweed held literally hundreds of fresh Painted Ladies plus a couple of Small Coppers amongst the commoner sp.

Marsh Gentians

Brimstone

Common Darter

Red-veined Darter

     Painted Lady

Violet Helleborine var. rosea, 29 July 2019

Some weeks ago someone found this plant and asked for id. Despite helping him and with no good reason he refused to reveal the location. So it is with great pleasure I can now stick 2 fingers up to him because it has been located! My huge thanks to my 'informant' who happened to stumble across it at the weekend. She knows who she is!
Violet Helleborine var. rosea is a very rare plant and also it's an absolute stunner. Completely lacking in chlorophyll it is entirely pale pink/lilac and almost glows in the dark wood it favours. Harrap lists it as rare and has no image whilst it gets no mention at all in Sanford's Orchids of Suffolk.

I also checked out the usual populations of Violet Helleborine finding 2 in one location and 6 in another. All were still in bud and some rather small. Also added to my botony list were Small-leaved Lime and Enchanter's Nightshade. Nuthatches were calling in every wood I visited!

Violet Helleborine var. rosea

Violet Helleborines

Enchanter's Nightshade 

 Small-leaved Lime

On a roadside pond in mid-Suffolk some odonata caught my eye while driving past. I stopped to find a large numbers of Small Red-eyed Damselflies, mostly pairs 'in cop' plus Ruddy Darters, Emerald Dragonflies, Blue-tailed and Azure Damselflies.

Small Red-eyed Damselflies

    Ruddy Darters