Monday, June 29, 2020
We did a bit of a route march today, in greyish weather after a rainy period - but we did pause to look for a solitary lesser butterfly orchid that I found on June 20. It was still there on June 26, although this picture was the last one I took on June 24.
There was no sign of it. We both looked around for ages, but were quite sure we had the right spot. It could have been trampled or eaten by a sheep or deer - although the site still held loads of lilac orchids (which species, I'm not sure) and there was no fresh dung around. Unfortunately, it was easily seen from the road; but with no proof that someone's removed it, I'd better give my fellow human beings the benefit of the doubt and assume it was animals.
A bit further on, one at least was still there of the three I first discovered on June 15. The thing is, I wonder if lesser butterfly orchid would be a target for flower thieves; it's declined drastically in England over the last 50 years thanks to habitat loss, but seems to do better in Scotland.
// posted by Christine @ 2:02 PM 
