Our trips to Africa traditionally start by visiting Zoe's family in England and this trip is no exception. The big event was a large family gathering with copious amounts of food and wine to celebrate Mum and Dad's 55th wedding anniversary and Auntie Joan's 90th birthday.
Nieces Emma and Claire presenting birthday cake to Auntie Joan
Today we visited the chalk downs in the Chilterns on a very successful orchid hunting 'expetition'. Eight species of orchids were found including the spectacular bee orchid.
The intrepid adventurers, Chris, Dad, Zoe and Mum, on an orchid hunting 'expetition' to the Chilterns, England
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| Bee Orchid Ophrys apifer |
Bee on Common Spotted Orchid - Dactylorhiza fuchsii
Pyramid Orchid - Anacamptis pyramidalis
1 comment:
Sadly we didn't find a 9th orchid on Zoe's Orchid Hunt but yesterday I went to another reserve in the Chilterns & found it - Coeloglossum viride, the Frog Orchid. This year they were about 3 or 4 inches tall as it has been a wet summer. In dry summers they often are only 2 inches tall so hide in the turf and are very difficult to find unless you know exactly where to look!
To put that hunt in perspective, there are only about 50 orchid species in UK, so to find 8 in one small area after an hours search is really good.
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