By Bernie Bell
There are lots of Northern Marsh orchids in our meadow – more and more each year.
These have now been joined by a kind of orchid which neither of us had seen before, just two of them………
We think they might be a hybrid of Northern Marsh orchid and Heath Spotted orchid? Or, just Heath Spotted orchid?
It’s a very pretty thing, and I hope that there will be more of them in years to come. The longer we leave our garden to go wild, the more plants and wildlife appear.
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If you post your photos to the Facebook group “Orkney Wild Flowers and their habitats” there are experts there to identify them for you – including the county plant recorder, John Crossley.
Thanks for the suggestion, Andy, but I’m not on Facebook! Never will be – I believe it erodes real human interaction.
The idea here, was to show the flowers – as they are pleasing to look at – involve people in maybe identifying them, and encourage folk to let their gardens go wild.
It’s not just about identification.
By the by – another, slightly different, one turned up yesterday – slightly darker pink, but still not purple – I think we’re getting different hybrids – which pleases me – variety is the spice of life.
Facebook – like pretty much everything – is a great tool when used wisely. I am unable to have “real human interaction” with friends and colleagues across the world on a regular basis but I can have conversations, exchange ideas and photos with Facebook – like writing a letter! Of course, looking at nature and being amongst it is good, but as Simon Barnes said, knowing what you are looking at greatly enhances the experience. It can also contribute to our knowledge and thus conservation. Hybridisation is not necessarily a good thing and “variety is the spice of life” is a rather glib phrase, not meant to be applied in this situation. Hybridisation – particularly with introduced species can lead to extinction and loss of diversity, demonstrated many times across the world.
Well, Andy, I do annoy you, don’t I? I annoy you, then I annoy you again, then I annoy you a bit more! I don’t mean to, but I do. Looks like that’s just how it is.
Namaste.
Hello Malcolm Morrison on Facebook! I’m not on Facebook, so can’t respond to you there, but thought you, or other folk, might be interested to see this, re. wilding your gardens……
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/08/14/bernie-bell-i-can-hear-the-grass-grow/