More Orchids at home and a new bee hotel

This is certainly a good year for orchids! We have so many at home and some new ones too which is exciting.

Just along the road, on a steep bank below my neighbour's house (who, by the way, mowed off all those lovely Lady Orchids that I showed in my last post about orchids around here *rolls eyes*) I noticed a couple of orchids amongst the Lady Orchids which were different. I couldn't get close to them as the slope is way too steep to climb but my zoomed photos were good enough for them to be identified on our local Facebook group.

This is a Military Orchid (Orchis militaris), though sadly it's going over. Now last year I found one on the other side of the road, further along, and I've been looking for it this year, in vain. I don't mind where one pops up though and the nearer to my garden the better!

Then there was this one, which has been identified as a Lady x Military cross which, given there were about eight Lady Orchids here, makes sense. Maybe the Military Orchid was there last year but I didn't notice.

This is the hybrid orchid on the bank above a regular Lady Orchid (Orchis purpurea).

A picture of my lawn and this is even after I have removed dozens of labels! It's better if you click to view the photo larger as you can see the orchids clearer.

A big surprise this year was discovering the first Long-lipped Tongue Orchid (Serapias vomeracea) in our lawn! The poor thing has been mown when it was in bud so it is rather stunted, but hopefully it will spread seeds in time.

Maybe it came from this one which is in the verge outside our house which I discovered a few years ago. It’s the only one I can see in our road though, so these two feel extra special.

A closer look at the orchid lawn - the two main species flowering now, Man Orchids and Pyramidal Orchids.

Man Orchids (Orchis anthropophora) are interesting when you look at them close up. The man shape (the lip, or labellum) is like a childlike drawing of a man, with spindly limbs. They can have various colours on the lip, from cream to pale yellow and pink to red. 

This one is cream at the bottom and dark pinky red at the top.

Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis).

We have eight Lizard Orchids (Himantoglossum hircinum) in bud in the lawn, and this one on the bank under our hedge outside, which is a first for there. 

In the back garden we have loads of Early Spider Orchids (Ophrys sphegodes). The first ones appeared around March/April but these are a second flush, though are not the Late Spider Orchid, which is a different species!

The nectar bar is doing extremely well with many plants way too big! I pruned back that Sage in the middle by more than half at the end of winter, but it’s already as big as it was last year. And the Catmints are even bigger this year! I’m using link stakes to hold some plants away from others to stop them getting swamped. 

There seems to be lots of interest in the flowers this year and I’ve seen my first ever Longhorned Bee and a Glanville Fritillary on the flowers this spring, amongst many others. Yesterday evening there were six Hummingbird Hawkmoths feeding at the same time - a fabulous sight!

The Pyracantha hedge is covered in flowers and just alive with insects. Butterflies love it as well as flies, bees, wasps and beetles. Below: Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

Keith discovered this Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) perched on a pool filter cover! It was happy to pose and then I took it on my finger and put it on a plant. I think it must have recently eclosed as it didn't seem to want to fly away.

For my birthday I asked for a bee hotel as we left our old one behind when we moved. This is a much bigger one, although it's not as deep so depending on how many eggs specific bees lay, they can always use more than one hole. I think he did a great job making it from odds and ends of wood that we had in the garage. 💜

For the moment I have put it behind a pillar on the patio where it is both in the shade and dry. Although I haven't seen any in action, we have had solitary bees nesting in little spaces in our shutters, including leaf cutter bees, so they must fly along this area. There are pots with flowers on the patio nearby, so hopefully they will find it. We will see! 😀

Keith remembered me getting excited about seeing a picture of some amazing spider brooches so kindly got me some of my own.

It was very sweet of him, although he didn't quite match the size of the originals (nor the price, I am sure!!!) worn by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands! Aren't they amazing? Apparently she has lots of insect jewellery. 😀


Credit Hello Magazine

Well there you go, a long post to finish on. We did go on an amazing botanical/orchid day out recently with our birding group, but I have so many photos that I will leave that blog post until after our holiday! For now, I am out of here as my brother is coming at the weekend and I need to get the house cleaned and the moho ready for our upcoming holiday. See you anon. 😁