After missing out on seeing these little beauties last year, as they'd already flowered by the time we got our act together, I was keen to see them this year as I'd never seen Frog Orchid before. Mark P arranged to meet me near work and we set off to explore a couple of sites. Firstly a well known site near Wrexham for Dune Helleborine. We found plenty of plants but they were not yet in flower so we quickly moved up into the hills to an old lead mining site where Frog Orchids are relatively easy to find............
Unfortunately the dry weather has had an impact on all wild flowers at the moment and although we did find three Frog Orchids they were past their best already. It took awhile to get your eye in to find these diminutive plants as they're only a few centimetres tall.
There were also Common Spotted And Fragrant Orchids on site but finding one in good condition was difficult - we think these are Heath Fragrants.
The site also had Quaking Grass which looks stunning when viewed close up and large areas of Wild Thyme. Last year we saw lots of Greyling and Dark Green Fritillaries but this year there were none but we did see plenty of Ringlets, Small Heath & Meadow Browns.
Returning home I took the opportunity to use the macro on the Figwort thats growing in our ditch.
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