Orchids, other flowers, in Wiltshire, England

This is a video about an Early Marsh Orchid, one of the 56 species of British orchids.

From Wildlife Extra:

Orchids blooming in restored Wiltshire grasslands

July 2008. On the rolling chalk grassland of Coombe Bisset Down the purple spikes of pyramidal orchids have appeared in a field 10 years after the land was reclaimed from arable farming by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

So far only 25 plants have been spotted, but they signal the slow return of wild flowers to farmed land through careful management by hay cutting and grazing.

The orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis, was among a multitude of other wildflower seeds such as small scabious, devil’s bit scabious, fairy flax, horseshoe vetch, eye bright, cowslips and red bartisia, first sown in 1998, and then in 2001, as the Trust sought to restore this patch of chalk grassland, which is a nationally important habitat.

Barley field

“Twelve years ago this field was full of swaying barley with not a flower in sight. Since we seeded the field and took over its management we have seen more and more wild flowers creeping in. This is the best year yet – we’ve even found one fragrant orchid, which usually takes a long time to colonise a place,” says Catherine.

See also here.

Orchid search launched on 60 UK farms: here.

Orchids and fungi — partners for life: here.

Three Thai orchids have been found to rely on a wide range of fungi to help them take carbon out of the soil instead of producing their own organic carbon. A detailed study of the relationship, published in the open access journal BMC Biology, also features stunning pictures of the plants: here.

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• Rare Irish lady’s-tresses orchid discovery in Scotland (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
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• Melbourne scientists battle to save rare Caladenia spider orchid from extinction (abc.net.au)
• New species of orchid discovered in Japan, exhibits anit-social behavior (en.rocketnews24.com)
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