While on a late excursion I happened across this and at first I thought my eyes were deceiving me?!
I have seen a great deal of British Orchids the last 6 years and possibly looked at tens of thousands of flowers and many of them have minor variations on a theme.
NOT LIKE THIS HOWEVER!
As excited as I was its location was highly suspect. Indeed my brother realised himself that all the sites were artificial and not natural. Indeed I was up there again today and got much more content and yet again I got talking to a woman who lived locally.
On this occasion though the person I was speaking to KNEW her Orchids and was there to see the three species. She was also aware of the other sites and asked me if I had even been to them and I said I had quite literally come from there via another site.
I then remarked about the area and we got into details and it turns out she is NOT ONLY the fourth set of local people that have complained about the running of the site but also agreed that it was all a con!
When I mentioned the sudden appearing Primulas she nodded her head and the when I explained in detail that I was taking close up shots of them she looked almost as if she knew what I was going to say next. As I said that there were both ORANGE and RED FLOWERS she nodded and said 'yes, yes...I know!' while them man with her, maybe not blieving her up to this point, started to shake his head.
I then explained about the large FRILLY lemon sherbert type Primroses of which a few hundred appeared under a canopy with no light getting through even for stinging nettles or grass to grow and her eyes went wide. When I explained the size of the flowers using the forefinger and thumb on my hand to make a circle she said 'no...really?' to which I nodded with a grin.
I then went and motioned towards the field of grass opposite she then interrupted me and pleasingly finished my sentence by stating that they had cut down all the Teasel and wiped out the Butterflies?! It was my turn to exclaim 'YES..YES!'
The complaints were always the same as they always are only thins time there was more detail regarding the mismanagement of the protected species.
I explained how I had turned up a few weeks earlier and found a idiot, I know now is called Andy, spraying chemicals all over the grass right on top of two species of Amphibians and three Orchids and that when I said 'oh I have arrived while someone is working up here' to which he snapper back 'We are ALWAYS UP HERE!' and which was a lie she looked shocked and said 'really?!' I said yup and the funny thing is in the warmer weather I am up here on average around 4 times a week. It is extremely rare for me to not be up at all, only week of bad weather, and 5 times is not uncommon. Hell I was up there TWICE in ONE DAY two days back, as logged on here. I then explained that I have DONE THIS for 6 years since I first moved to Enfield. "Cold weather and even ice and snow too for the winter bird species!" I continued.
But in six years I have NEVER seen anyone at this site working. Now that I have he was spraying chemicals all over the place. They cut down loads of trees even huge ones right down to the ground, I do not mean PRUNE BACK HEAVILY either, unless you consider a 4 inch high stump a heavy pruning. Dozens of them.
I also told them that I emailed the head office and gave them advice on the Great Crested Newts and they completely ignored it and she said yes many people have complained that they report things and they do nothing. She even stated that she phoned them one day as there was a man there behaving strangely and thought he was going to throw himself in the pond or something. But even though EVERYONE I HAVE EVER SPOKEN TO about the area knows EXACTLY the spot we was speaking the Lea Valley :ark Authority did not have a clue where it was?!
I also explained that in the reply to my email they turned down my offer as advisor, surprise surprise, and told me that the whole site was a natural site, oh dear it is so obviously NOT.
The lady I was speaking to was well aware the whole place was artificial and the look of surprise on her face?! You would have thought she would have gotten used to the shocks by now.
The realisation came again when I stated that whenever they do a flurry of work it is always early April and the end of the financial year, lol. Interestingly she had explained that she knew many people, who I believe had to be nature enthusiasts like her, and many had been complaining of the Park Authority and that they email them regularly because they ignore them.
I said 'right! I am going to become a really bug headache to them from now on!' and she smiled, lol.
Now back to this White Orchid!
Now being completely white made identification a nightmare?! I also went back and did another check and there are no blotches on the leaves but I suspect that this would also be absent in alba forms anyway.
Yes it could be an alba form of Dactylorhiza praetermissa which is the Southern Marsh Orchid but I am going to wager on it being an alba form of the Common Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza fuchsii.
Hmm A White Common Spotted Orchid?! An oxymoron contender?!
Being an white alba form renders it neither common or possessing any spots, lol!!
You would not find an Early Marsh Orchid in flower today, even though they were late and any that still had flowers were all brown and dried up to one degree or another.
Yes praetermissa are late and in flower but these were mostly big specimens this year, capitalising on a number of things one being a lot of spring rain. Now I believe that the rain did a number of things...
One is that the regular spring rains helped the Microrhiza fungus the plants need.
Two I noticed a hell of a lot of Ant Hills which churn up the soil.
THREE, I would need to check on British Ants but some Ants FARM FUNGUS so that they can feed on it but as I say I am not sure. The rain could me why there were more Ant hills?
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