Cornfield Flowers

The Arable Weed project at College Lake Nature Reserve looks wonderful at the moment - a sea of Corn Chamomile Anthemis arvensis, dotted with bright red Corn Poppies Papaver rhoeas and livid blue Cornflowers Centaurea cyanus. A closer look reveals rare or virtually extinct arable plants such as Corncockle, Pheasant's eye and Field Cow-wheat. Sadly this is a sight lost forever from the British countryside.

Corn Chamomile, Corn Poppy and Corn Marigold - College Lake, Buckinghamshire (17/06/2012) 

Corn Chamomile, Corn Poppy and Corn Marigold - College Lake, Buckinghamshire (17/06/2012)        

Fly Orchid

One compensation for the dreadful spring and early summer have been the Orchids, which have been thriving in the wet conditions. In early June I paid a visit to a small local Nature Reserve to check on the Fly Orchids Ophrys insectifera and was amazed at the number I found. A quick search turned up 30 plants and I have since found out that the official count for whole Reserve is many times that figure.

Fly Orchids are rare in the UK and are mainly found in the Southern half of the country. Despite it's name the flower mimics the female Digger Wasp, even producing a Pheromone to entice a male wasp into acting as an unwitting pollinator as it attempts to mate with it. There can be as many as 20 flowers on each spike which can grow as tall as 60 cm, but the plants can be very inconspicuous and hard to find. Although tolerant of a broad range of habitats, Fly Orchids prefer calcareous soils and can be found in Beech woods, grassy places in shade and even fens.

Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera (04/06/2012)

Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera (04/06/2012)

Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera (04/06/2012)

Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera (04/06/2012)

Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera (04/06/2012)

Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera (04/06/2012)