Narrow-leaved marsh orchid?

Today we made our annual family monitoring visit to Wicken Fen, Pete was sweep netting, Alex was suction sampling and Chris and I went along for fun. We arrived fairly early so that Alex could have the required induction into working on parts of the fen with stock. They have a herd of Konik's ponies that are essentially wild and a set of Highland bulls.

While Pete and Alex were working, Chris and I went orchid spotting. There are several species of orchid present at Wicken Fen including Early Marsh Orchid, Southern Marsh Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid - all of which hybridise, making identification challenging!

There were quite a few orchids that appeared to have characteristics of Narrow-leaved Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza traunsteinerioides, which is by far the rarest of the species present at the site.This species was first described from Wicklow, Ireland in 1936 by Landwehr and was at first classified as an Orchis. It has long been known by several common names including Narrow Leaved Marsh Orchid, Wicklow Marsh Orchid and Pugsley's Marsh Orchid.

This species has a limited distribution centred on Great Britain but with stations in Ireland to the west and northern France to the east. Its an uncommon orchid and one that is undoubtedly in decline due to the destruction of its habitat. It is a species of damp to wet, neutral to alkaline meadows and fens which tends to be concentrated in lowland areas.

Like most marsh-orchids it is a willing gene sharer and some populations have been completely absorbed by closely related taxa, most particularly Southern Marsh Orchid. Some of the specimens from Wicken Fen seem to be close to thetrue species, but many seem to have characteristics of Early Marsh Orchid, in particular the peachy-pink colour. Many authorities beleive that there are few if any genetically pure D. traunsteineriodes poulations left in the south of Britain.

Typical Narrow-leaved Marsh Orchid is a fairly leggy plant with a smallish inflorescence of between 10 and 20 widely spaced individual flowers. The leaves are thin, few in number and clasp the stem. The median lobe of the lip is long, pointed and is often slightly recurved at the tip. The bracts are often flushed with red. It seems to flower somewhat later than the other marsh-orchids, and was just at its peak in early July.