Sunday 14th June 2026

From time to time I get given or shared information of stuff to see, mostly orchids, and sometimes it takes some time to act on said information.

A couple of years ago, I was made aware that a certain site was the only known UK and Ireland location for a hybrid between the Chalk Fragrant and the Southern Marsh.

As the season winds down until later this month when the Marsh helleborines emerge, after the gym I thought we would go to investigate.

So, the alarm was set for six, though we were both up and about at twenty past five. The cats are tested, jabbed and fed. Coffee made and drunk.

A lazy, if early start.

We leave at ten to seven, laden with coffee in flasks and two pain au raisins from the market in Sandwich, and drove to Whitfield.

We arrive as the doors swung open, so up the stairs and on the bike, where I listen to The Bugle (Hello, Buglers!) while my fat hairy legs go round and round and round.

I am going to mention the site where this hybrid was, because there are thousands of orchids out there at the moment, and if you can find it among the other spikes, then well done you.

We leave Whitfield along the A2, past trucks and slow moving cars until we turn off to go through Bridge.

Bridge was quiet, but the old high road is clogged with parked cars, but easy to negotiate at eight in the morning.

We arrive at the car park, and sat on the tailgate to eat the pain and drink our coffee, before walking down the long track.

Bonsai Bank, for it was there we were heading, is popular at the end of April and through May when there are Lady Orchids, Duke of Burgundy and White-spotted sable moths to be seen. In the middle of June and later, just dogwalkers and the freaks like me, really.

Disappointed not to see more flowers down the sides of the track, so no butterflies seen, just a single Red admiral near the car park that lazily fluttered off.

As we walked the final climb to the reserves entrance, dozens of Common spotted orchids were seen, on both sides. Each was inspected for any unusual features.

None found.

Down the steps and into the reserve, and along the top path there were dozens, nay hundreds more CSOs and a few Chalk fragrants.

Each Chalk fragrant, doubly so the larger spikes, had to be inspected for spotted leaves and patterns on the flower lips.

It was slow going, and as we went further there were more and more orchids, with them stretching out of sight up the bank towards the track.

I check as many as I can, and find nothing obviously hybriddy.

What are we looking for? Asked Jools.

A good question, and one that deserved an answer: but how do you describe something you've never seen?

We had been in the reserve an hour now, and with numbers of orchids climbing higher and their density increased, I knew I would have to just accept there were too many spikes to check.

I still looked at spikes of Chalk fragrants, but not as closely, and all the time nothing out of the ordinary.

I then spotted something unusual.

A small spike, Chalk Fragrant colour, mostly, but with raspberry ripple coloured markings.

How I saw it among the thousands of other spikes is a mystery, but then I guess I know when I see something different.

I get down to look, and it is a fine intergeneric hybrid, one half for sure being Chalk fragrant, but was the other half Southern Marsh or Common spotted.

When compared to the ones I saw last year at Bredhurst, this was bolder marked and the leaves unspotted. Not conclusive, but I am thinking more of an SMO, even if I didn't see any on site.

I was laying down when a lady and her dog walked by. Oh, she exclaimed, what have you found? Anything exciting?

Clair, for that was her name, lived on Pennypot Lane, and grew up in the area too, and she had been wanting to meet an orchidist to identify what she sees every day.

I explained to her that this was a hybrid, an inter-species one from two different orchid families, and was probably the only such plant in the UK and Ireland.

Except the smaller spike beside it!

She was thrilled, as she was when I ID'd the other orchids for her too.

We were done.

We carried on down the lower path, and back to the entrance, before tackling the long slog back to the car.

I was prepared, very much, not to complete the quest, just happy with a walk in the woods in high summer. But against the odds, the quest was complete, and I had the shots.

And as we neared the car, I did my 13,000th step.

We drove home, back along leafy lanes, with sunshine casting dappled shadows on the patches of the roadway, which was more obvious than the road's original tarmac.

Back onto the A2, then cruise to Whitfield, onto the duel carriageway past Tesco and to home.

Where it was time for a brew and to put Huey on the radio once more. He'd been on air an hour already, but we don't think he minded.

Afternoon lunch/dinner was caprese with warmed up chorizo bread bought from the market, and the best part of a bottle of red. Which went down well.

At six there was football: Germany v Curacao, and despite what the 7-1 scoreline might say, Germany had a game on their hands until the second half. The first 7-1 finals victory since Germany beat Brasil in Brasil in 2014.

That was followed by Netherlands v Japan, which was another great game, but I was tired, so bailed at half time so missed Japan coming from behind twice to draw 2-2.