The year in orchids: 2025

I wasn't going to do a post about orchids, as here in Kent nothing of much import to report. But that doesn't mean there was nothing to comment on.

Last winter and spring were very dry. So much so that if affected some species to the point where whole sites failed.

Nowhere was this so evident than at Sandwich Bay, where almost all the thousands of Lizard Orchids failed, and those that did grow and flower, were stunted.

Elsewhere around Sandwich, those beside roads seem to have benefited from spray, and there were hundreds of spikes to be found, some even very pale, with little pigmantation.

Earlier species did OK, mostly. Its hard to judge how bad the Early Spiders were at Samphire Hoe, as numbers there vary from year to year, based on boom years when much seed is set, then the seven year wait for plants to mature and flower.

I counted less than 50, though I could have missed some.

Inland, Early Purples were later than the Early Spiders.

I saw my first Early Spider high on a cliff, out of reach, the day before we left for India. We had been visiting Earley Wood weekly to check on the Eaarly Purples, but none were close to flowering before we left. And by the time we returned, many were already fading.

So it goes.

In the woods, it was a boom year for Lady Orchids, lots of magnificent spikes, and even a pure white spike at Barham.

Sadly, no Burnt Tips appeared, and along the route to them, I failed to find any downland Early Spiders, though others did find them.

Over at Marden, the display of Green-wings was as impressive as ever, maybe even more so as the meadow near the car park has more spikes year on year.

On another positive note, Lesser Butterflies reappeared at Barham after nearly a six year gap, though I only found out late in the season after that had gone over. But, something to search for next year.

Monkeys at PGD were in good numbers, though smaller than usual because of the drought, and browned off very quickly.

A large colony of Bee Orchids appeared in the shared grassed area of a housing development in Walmer. A member of the HOS told me about it, and offered to show me the 150 plus spikes. These were in a marked contrast to the species elsewhere, where numbers crashed due to to the lack of water early in the year.

Numbers of the Helleborine species in July were also down, though if you looked hard enough there were spikes of BLH to find, but at Barham, I found just three spikes of VH.

To close the season, numbersof Autumn Lady's Tresses were down too, and spikes quickly turned brown once pollenated. I only went once up on the Temple Ewell Down to look for them.

We only left the county once for orchids: a super-secret trip to the west country to see the rarest of the rare, Red Helleborine, which seemed to have their best year in nearly two decades.

My trip to the New Forest to see Heath Fragrants was sucppered duew to the drought conditions, and a landrover driver who flatted most of the colony early spring.

So it goes, so it goes.