Burnt Orchid

I feel that  may have to apologise for a surfeit of orchids, but in my defence, it is their time of year!

This year Pete's surveying a site near Clophill in Bedfordshire, and I offered to drive him down, thinking it would give me a chance to visit some chalk sites. I had been planning to try and photograph Duke of Burgundy, but the weather stayed cool and grey, so I visited two nearer chalk grassland National Nature reserves, Barton Hills and Knocking Hoe. 

Both were beautiful, with amazingly species-rich turf studded with  the golden-yellow crowns of Horseshoe-vetch and the bright pink and purple forms of Common Milk-wort. At Barton Hills I found the first Sainfoin and Fragrant Orchid in flower on a sheltered slope, and enjoyed the sight of hundreds of Twayblade.

But Knocking Hoe, which is England's smallest NNR, was the jewel in the crown. I'd been hoping to find Burnt Orchids, which I last saw nearly thirty years ago, and wasn't disappointed. Most were in an enclosure, to prevent rabbit grazing (and possibly trampling by photographers) but I found about half a dozen scattered individuals that I could examine closely. The stiff northerly breeze and heavy cloud cover made them challenging to photograph, but I think this image conveys some of their beauty, which actually took my breath away. Although the Burnt Orchids were my target, I was equally delighted to see large populations of Spotted Cat's-ear, Field Fleawort and Pasque-flower , all of which are now very rare. And, what I found amazing, was that for most of my visit, I was the only person there.