On the 18th of February, the first spikes of the Oxon Giant Orchids, Himantoglossum robertianum, were found in flower.
The 2024 UK Orchid season was off and running, even if the first species wasn’t a native species, but rather a naturalised one. Even still, this was some three weeks earlier than 2023 when at the end of March many of us visited the site to see the orchids, would this mean that our native species would be as early?
So it was on the 16th of March, on the Purbeck coast, that the first 11 spikes of Early Spiders were found to be in flower, this was followed two days later by the finding of the same species in flower on the Isle of Wight, and on the 19th March, Green Wing Orchids found flowering in Hampshire.
On the same day, Tad found a spike of Early Purple almost completely in flower in woodlands above the Medway meaning the Kent season is under way too.
I would suggest this is ten to fourteen days earlier than previously known, to have three species flowering in the third week of March is, I believe, unheard of, and marks a new chapter in climate change here in UK.
The first UK dragonfly of the year was spotted yesterday, a Beautiful demoiselle, was photographed having emerged from a garden pond in southern England. And at least eight species of butterfly have been recorded.
In our garden, daffodils are already turning brown after flowering, and tulips sprouting well.
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