Those of us living in the north of Scotland are being hammered by a strong westerly airflow which gusts at times to almost gale force, while at the same time enjoying bright, sunny intervals between occasional showers. While the rest of Britain basks in light airs and the promise of a heatwave, we took our daily walk....
Most of the five orchid species we've found in this area have two or more separate populations but this is the only one which is confined to a few square metres and, on this morning's count, to only ten individual specimens, about the same number we counted last year.
The common spotted orchid is usually.... common. To quote the Wildlife Trust's website, "The common spotted-orchid is the easiest of all our orchids to see: sometimes, so many flowers appear together that they create a pale pink carpet in our woodlands, old quarries, dunes and marshes."
Not around here: the common spotted is definitely uncommon.
The animated world weather map can be found here.
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