June 26th Strumpshaw Fen

Southern Marsh Orchid and Hoverfly 

With the last two day being relatively hot (minus the torrential shower yesterday morning), you'd expect today being nice as well? Nope! It has been grey, cold and overcast all day. Thankfully, it didn't rain, but it was still a day to forget for those seeking for swallowtails. There was a chance that it was going to brighten up and the hope that one could show up, but it was not to be (at least during my watch that is). For me though, I was more interested in finding orchids and dull weather conditions wasn't going to stop me finding them.

The orchid count has more than doubled at Strumpshaw in the last couple of weeks and the meadow trail was more passable than the last time I trudged through it. It was still boggy in places, but no where near as bad as it was before. And now, the meadow trail is an orchid paradise, even if it has been a few weeks late compared to elsewhere in Norfolk. The majority were marsh and spotted orchids of one form or another. It was quite a brilliant display. However, I've long since passed the stage of figuring out which was which for the sake of ticking this confusing group of orchids from my list. Instead, my eyes were scanning the grass for something else entirely.



Marsh Helleborine

Marsh helleborines were now starting to flower and I know that they have been seen in this meadow before. Surprisingly though, I had never seen one at Strumpshaw before. It was time to fix that. After 8 years volunteering here, I was determined to seek out my first ever Strumpshaw marsh helleborine. Since failing to find one during my morning walk, I tried again after lunch. This time I succeeded. It was not in full flower yet with just one floweret showing, but who cares! I've finally found one at this reserve at long last!

You can usually tell that the orchid season is nearing its end of its peak season whenever you encounter your first Epipactis helleborine of the year. This family of orchids more than often emerges from July onwards and have a very similar flower structure that is unlike any of the other orchid species that I've seen so far. The flowers are basically little 'buckets' with five petals/sepals surrounding them and are designed so that the pollinator crawls into these buckets with their weight forcing the bucket to shift so that when the pollinator crawls out it is forced to manoeuvre directly into the pollinia. Out of all these Epipactis helleborines, the marsh helleborine is one of the more colourful members and is rather beautiful with its soft pallets of pinks and whites.






Otters

It wasn't all orchids today, there were also otters. During my shift at Reception Hide, a mother otter and her two cubs surprised us all when they appeared from nowhere not far out between the hide and the reedy islands. Though the wildfowl being on high alert was a big clue. Also today, there was another quick kingfisher appearance flying around the broad, a common tern and marsh harriers.