Welcome to my blog. My name is Sean Locke from Norwich and I am autistic. But this does not stop my passion for nature and wildlife. I am a volunteer for RSPB Strumpshaw Fen and I also help out at Mousehold Heath with surveys and I birdwatch whenever I can. Since 2011, i have been writing a wildlife diary filled with my adventures, drawings and photos. Now i have decided to go online to share with you all.
Friday 17 May 2019
May 17th Secret Location
Bird's-nest Orchids
My third orchid on my list was going to be one of the trickiest ones to find. It is also one of the strangest. The bird's-nest orchid has the appearance of something dead and wilted. With brown flowers and no leaves, it is easily overlooked and blends so well with the leaf litter that you could trample on them without even knowing that they were there.
They grow in woodlands with mature beech trees in which the orchid have a complex relationship with. As this orchid has no leaves, it is unable to photosynthesis. The trees, on the other hand, do and it exchanges the sugars that it produces through photosynthesis down into the roots where it trades with a fungus for the vital nutrients and minerals that the tree needs deep underground. The orchid taps into this fungus and steals what it needs without anything in return through its bird nest-shaped roots, for which it gets its name. The bird's-nest orchid is a thief!
There aren't that many places in Norfolk to see them unlike in other parts of England. So I went to one place I've been to many times before as a kid but never knew the orchids existed until a few years ago. And though it is a very public place, I was told not to reveal where this site and the orchids whereabouts are to prevent illegal orchid collectors. I was given directions by the staff to where to look, but after walking around the trees, my parents and I just couldn't find them. We went back to ask a warden to show them to us. Returning to the same spot, he found some immediately! How on earth did anyone find them in the first place beats me as they were so small and blended in with the surrounding leaf litter that there was no way I would have found them without an expert on hand. We found a couple more on our own, but every single one of these plants were still in bud, just days away from flowering! It would have been nice if one was in bloom so that I could smell the honey-like scent it apparently produces, but I was still happy and ticked Bird's-nest orchid from my list anyway.
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