A day at Newborough, Anglesey.

[Dorts]

I spent the day at Newborough, hoping for some good Orchids.


But it was not as I had hoped. There has obviously been very little rain, the 'slacks' were dry and I reckon that the orchid numbers were down by 75%! No Early Marsh at all and very few Northern Marsh. But there were plenty of Pyramidals.

They seem to be un-affected by the drought. Also plenty of Hybrid orchids, all Common Spotted x Northern Marsh.


My main aim was to re-find the rare variety of Bee Orchid, var. bicolor, an after a lot of searching I found two plants just going over.


There were a few Common Spotted Orchids.


But many species were very stunted; such as Bog Pimpernel.

and Common Centaury.


In the Pine Forest, whch as usual, was very dry,

there were several species that were doing quite well.

Sheepsbit.

Common Vetch. And Rest Harrow.

And a lovely group of Hare'sfoot Clover.


Kidney Vetch always does well in dry weather, and I found several lovely areas carpeted their yellow flowers.



Before I left I had a quick look to see how the Dune Helleborines were coming along. There were plenty of them and I would say another month and they will be flowering.


A quick look onlong the dunes nearest to the beach and I found Seaside Pansy

All in all, not a bad day.
Dorts.

[Deb London]

A lovely account of your day Dorts, sounds like you had fun.

[broadbill]

Great photos - I like the bicolor!

[stevecurtis]

Great photos,thanks for sharing.

all the best steve

[jeffnsue]

Thanks, Dort.
Think we'll give Newborough a miss, we were hoping for Coccinea.
We'll maybe try Sweeny Fen (Not for Coccinea of course), it shouldn't be dry there!
Jeff

[diggleken]

In the footsteps of Tunnicliffe!
Fabulous place Dorts, thanks for sharing, many memories. Great pics too.
No Vipers Bugloss?
Cheers
Ken

[Hedera]

You had a lovely day! The little viola is sweet - is that an unusual find in that location?

[the young hunter]

Jolly good find the bicolor. Not seen it in this country yet, just in Cyprus where the plants were enormous!

Mike.

[Dorts]

Originally Posted by diggleken

In the footsteps of Tunnicliffe!
Fabulous place Dorts, thanks for sharing, many memories. Great pics too. No Vipers Bugloss?
Cheers. Ken

Some lovely plants in a field just before you reach the forest, but none of the usual plants around the car-park that I could see.

Originally Posted by the young hunter

Jolly good find the bicolor. Not seen it in this country yet, just in Cyprus where the plants were enormous! Mike.

These plants are to be found on a very dry bank on the edge of the forest, never going to reach Cypriot proportions me thinks!
Cheers

Originally Posted by Hedera

You had a lovely day! The little viola is sweet - is that an unusual find in that location?

It's particularly common along the edge of the dunes on the seaward side. I agree, a great little plant, I always look out for it.
Dorts.