It's been a few years since I saw my last Frog Orchids, that was in Dorset. Yesterday I revisited a site in Somerset where I had first seen them in my teens along with fellow orchid enthusiast and naturalist, Nigel Marven.
The site is botanically rich with Southern Marsh Orchid being the dominant orchid species closely followed Fragrant Orchid. You have to watch where you step, particularly as our target species is green and difficult to spot until you have seen the first few.
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| Southern Marsh Orchid |
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Southern Marsh Orchid. One of the first
orchids I saw in my teens. |
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Heath Fragrant (?) Orchid
These are difficult to pin to species but
presumably Heath or Marsh Fragrant |
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Fragrant Orchid. Several tall, robust specimens
were present. |
After 10 minutes of careful searching we found our first three Frog Orchids. They may be green but they have a delicate beauty about them. Whether you can visualise a 'leaping frog' in the flower shape is debatable, maybe with a bit of imagination.
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| Our target species, a Frog Orchid |
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| A leaping frog? Possibly... |
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| A subtle beauty, the Frog Orchid |
After admiring the orchids it was time for a spot of birding at Ham Wall. All of the expected species were seen including 2 Hobbies hunting insects, a pair of Marsh Harriers, Cuckoo, 5 Great White Egrets and Bitterns booming from the reedbeds.
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| Great White Egret giving superb views at Ham Wall |
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| Great White Egret |
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| Four-spotted Chaser, hundreds of them on the wing |
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| Emperor Dragonfly |
Perez's Frog
Pelophylax perezi is common around the reserve but easiest to see around the pools by the main car park.
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| Perez's Frog - well established on the reserve |
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| Perez's Frog |
Another successful orchid hunt completed .
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