Denge Woods and Bonsai Bank   Click on the image above to view gallery View as a Slideshow

Birds nest Orchid

My first stop was in a small area of Covet Wood where I’d found the curious looking Bird’s Nest Orchid before, and some Lady Orchids too. It’s an area of deep shade and the woodland floor is covered with a plant called Dog’s Mercury, a plant I see often and not something I give a second thought to.  I looked it up in my plant book, however, and discovered that it’s very poisonous.  I found a few Lady Orchids growing in the deep shade but a lot of empty spikes too.  It is thought that deer are the culprits.  The most orchids you notice though are Common Twayblades.  It’s very hard to capture on a picture but there are literally thousands of these growing in the dappled shade, and occasionally a shaft of light will light an area up. 

Now, looking very carefully, I set about the task of finding a Bird’s Nest Orchid and to be honest I had almost given up when a patch of sunlight coming through the tress lit one up hiding amongst the Dog’s Mercury. These kinds of conditions don’t make it very easy to get pictures but I was pleased with the results I got.  The Birds Nest Orchid  is a saprophytic plant, feeding on rotting vegetation on the woodland floor and so has no chlorophyll and needs no sunlight. This spot in Covet wood is perfect for them to grow.

The next place I wanted to visit was Park Gate Down, my favourite place for seeing a variety of orchids and I knew it would be the right time of year to see the first of the Monkey Orchids in flower: a very rare plant that only grows in three locations in the country. Driving to all these places can often be an interesting experience along single track roads: it often seems there is grass growing up the middle of the road too.

Once at Park Gate Down I knew exactly where to look as there is a sheltered area where a couple of Monkey Orchids grow and it is always these that flower much earlier than across the rest of the meadow. Sure enough the flower spikes here were almost in full flower and looking splendid. Monkey Orchids are curious as the flowers open from the top to the bottom. I walked across the whole meadow which is always delightful and spotted many more starting to flower too. 

Early Purple Orchid

Fly Orchid

Monkey Orchid

The wood next to Park Gate Down is only small but I noticed some Wild Garlic growing so I went in there to take a few pictures.  Once I got back to where I’d parked the car I found a couple of ladies struggling to get out past where I had parked. As it turned out this was a rather fortunate meeting. They told me they were off to try to find some Lady Orchids. I said if they were prepared to follow me in the car for a few miles, they could walk with me through Denge Wood to Bonsai Bank.  I could take them to see some stunning Lady Orchids as I’d noticed some spectacular ones the week before. This they did and I enjoyed their company as I led them directly to the beautiful blooms I’d seen growing on the previous visit. They were delighted of course and hopefully it is something they will remember from their trip to Kent to see our local orchids growing this year.

I was also able to point out a Duke of Burgundy butterfly to them as there were some on the wing still in their favoured spot on Bonsai Bank. They live for not much longer than a week and it really is so sad when you find one that’s past its best and looking tatty, however I did find one that was very fresh and he sat still for a photo for a while.

I have included in the album pictures from both Park Gate Down and Bonsai Bank from a previous visit, but all were taken during May. On the previous occasion it was a really overcast day but with hardly any breeze, which was ideal for taking orchid pictures as it means that there are no harsh shadows cast across the flowers.

I will return to all of these places during the summer months too as there are always changes to be seen and more orchids in flower and different butterflies hopefully too.

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