Violet Helleborine

[jeffnsue]

Whilst at Birdfair last weekend Sue and I trudged off into Leicestershire in the hope of photographing Violet Helleborine, my chum Clive having seen them the weekend before in Oxfordshire.

We found around 50 spikes at a well-known site but sadly most of the plants had gone over and the flowers were very small, the result of a very dry spring I'm told. Thge individual flowers were tiny, perhaps 10mm in breadth, and photographing them was a real struggle as they were growing in a very dark area of the wood on leaf litter under a beech canopy.

Most spikes were in this state,



but we did manage to find a couple of plants still in flower.



This last pic has a probable pollinating insect and one of Clive's Oxfordshire photos shows what looks like the same insect, possibly some type of wasp? Clive told me that the individual flowers on 'his' plants were twice the size of mine. Forgive the blurred wasp - shutter speed was around quarter of a second!



Jeff

[IanS]

I went to see the 'last of the violets' last week in Buckinghamshire. They really were on their last legs then but did get to see a few flowers. They do grow in very dark conditions under beech. One of the sites I know all the plants had been eaten by last week too...

[jeffnsue]

Frustrating, isn't it....
Jeff

[IanS]

Yup!
I did go to see them at the end of July when they were first appearing and managed a few shots in the evening gloom of an Oxfordshire woodland back then....

[lizard orchid]

Originally Posted by jeffnsue

Whilst at Birdfair last weekend Sue and I trudged off into Leicestershire in the hope of photographing Violet Helleborine, my chum Clive having seen them the weekend before in Oxfordshire.

We found around 50 spikes at a well-known site but sadly most of the plants had gone over and the flowers were very small, the result of a very dry spring I'm told. Thge individual flowers were tiny, perhaps 10mm in breadth, and photographing them was a real struggle as they were growing in a very dark area of the wood on leaf litter under a beech canopy.

Most spikes were in this state,



but we did manage to find a couple of plants still in flower.



This last pic has a probable pollinating insect and one of Clive's Oxfordshire photos shows what looks like the same insect, possibly some type of wasp? Clive told me that the individual flowers on 'his' plants were twice the size of mine. Forgive the blurred wasp - shutter speed was around quarter of a second!



Jeff

I must get round to seeing these Leicestershire plants. Found four clumps yesterday but well in fruit in a beech woodland site in Buckinghamshire during botanical survey work.
Agree deer can be a pain but have seen this species get swamped by bramble growth especially at the Northamptonshire location in the past. However if bramble growth is not too overpowering then this does protect the plants a bit from browsing deer.

Brian Laney, Northamptonshire.