Saturday, June 15, 2024
We drove south down the coast and had a walk round Inverewe Garden. Aultbea could offer no hen harrier this time, although we did spot a white-tailed eagle flying across Loch Ewe. On the way back we pulled in at what used to be a large lay-by and which has, since Covid, become a pay-and-display car park; we don't normally use it but I wanted to have a quick walk there to hunt for whitethroat. There were none - at least, that I could see. But in a damp meadow with a small flood in a hollow, I found a few ragged robins.
It's only the second time I've seen this wildflower, the first being by the pond at Rosehall. I then hunted around further up the bank and was similarly delighted to find two lesser butterfly orchids. The first picture shows the two broad leaves at the base of the stem, while the second shows the two parallel pollinia which separate it from the greater butterfly orchid.
Also present were a probable common spotted orchid and this pink/lilac/purple (I don't even know what colour it is!) specimen which I will tentatively identify as a heath fragrant-orchid.
I've been surfing the net for information and discovered that there are now three species which were once considered to be just one: the chalk fragrant-orchid, the marsh fragrant-orchid, and the heath fragrant-orchid. The author of wildflowerfinder.org.uk reckons that only DNA analysis can reliably tell them apart! I think I'll just admire them and not worry too much about what they actually are.
// posted by Christine @ 11:03 AM 
