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| Military Orchid in France 2004 |
There is something very special to most naturalists
about seeing a new species. If that species is rare, then the excitement
of seeing it is even greater, especially if there has been a lot of
effort and planning involved. In my late teens, I had the very great
good fortune of spending my Saturday mornings in the Leicester
University Herbarium in the company of Professor Tutin (of the Clapham,
Tutin and Warburg Flora). On one occasion, he let slip that the very
rare Military Orchid had been found in Suffolk. He gave me rather vague
instructions. At the time, I was at school about twenty miles from the
site, and during its flowering season at the weekend, I would cycle over
to the area. The site is to the north of a roundabout from which roads
spread north like the spokes of a bicycle. I first had to try and work
out which of the roads was the one Professor Tutin had been referring
to. Over perhaps three years, I tried in vain to find the site and it
wasn’t until I was at University that a friend who knew the exact
locality took me to pay my respects. While I was at school, I was a keen
plant collector, and I suspect that had I found the plant, I would have
collected a spike for my herbarium; I have to say in retrospect, I am
somewhat relieved that my youthful hunt did not bear fruit.
A
year or two later, I heard the story, possibly apocryphal, of the
finding of the Suffolk military orchids. It was said the botanist who
found it slipped, and fell into a dell. She knocked her head as she
slipped downwards and was at least dazed, or perhaps even momentarily
unconscious. When she came round, she found she was surrounded by
military orchids in profusion looking like bluebells in woodland, “I
must have died,” she said to herself as she began to recover, “Because
this must be heaven!”
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| Military Orchid in France 2004 |
It had been in the middle of the twentieth century
that the military orchid was first found in Buckinghamshire, an event
that brought it back from extinction. It was that well-known botanist
Ted Lousley who knew where it occurred, and probably had found it. A
botanist friend of mine was determined to find it, but Ted Lousley was
equally determined to guard the secret of its whereabouts. My friend
asked for a clue, and Ted Lousley agreed to let my friend know whether
it was to the north or south of a particular main road. About a
fortnight later he received a postcard that announced on it, “The
Soldiers are alive and well at…….”
Secrecy about the
sites of rarities is not always a good idea. There are a large number of
people who have a determination to experience the thrill of being in
the company of a rare and exotic orchid. Luckily, today few botanists
would want to add rare orchid specimens to their private herbaria, and
most like to treasure the memory of the experience with a photograph.
Policing of fragile sites during the flowering season, and allowing the
whereabouts of such sites that can cope to be widely known can be very
beneficial for keeping people involved with the natural world. The keen
and fanatic orchid hunter is almost certainly going to try every
possible way to track down his quarry. Many will travel vast distances
to achieve that goal. How much more pleasant it would be for everyone if
the site were policed, and the orchid fanatic would not have to suffer
that wave of guilt that acting like some international spy would give
him. Most are more than prepared to give a generous donation for the
privilege of seeing, and photographing a rare orchid.
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| Lady’s Slipper Orchid in Yorkshire, 1972 |
It was an episode of the television series Wild
Things that stimulated me to write this blog. In the programme, one of
the presenters visited a wonderful clump of Lady’s Slipper Orchids that
are the progeny from native wild plants. The good news that there are as
many as a hundred plants in various secret sites in Britain was
mentioned. Whether the plant I experienced back in the early 1970s is
still extant, I was unable to confirm.
In my twenties,
I was a determined orchid hunter and had replaced any remnant ideas of
collecting actual plants with making a series of my own personal
photographs. Perhaps the most mystical and prestigious species is the
Lady’s Slipper Orchid. My botanical friend knew of its locality, and
undertook to give me detailed instructions for finding the site,
provided I never let on who it was who gave me the information. He
suggested that I contact the then Nature Conservancy Council and tell
them I knew where the site was, having visited it in the past, and
saying that I would very much like to improve the quality of my
photographs. The officer in the Nature Conservancy Council called my
bluff, and suggested I meet him at the entrance to the area.
“I’d
like you to show me where your plants are,” he said, “After all, your
site may not be the same as mine.” As it happens, the site is a good way
from the nearest road, and even with my instructions, finding my way
there unaided I knew would be demanding, However, I led him to within a
few yards of the orchids’ but I couldn’t actually spot them.
“They
are around here somewhere,” I muttered somewhat feebly. In fact they
really were only a few yards from where I stood, and my companion
pointed them out to me.
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| Lady’s Slipper Orchid in Spanish Pyrenees |
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| Lady’s Slipper Orchid in Spanish Pyrenees |
I understand that more recently than at the time of
my visit, during the flowering season, a guard sat close by and was
camouflaged. The guard allowed people to approach within a few yards of
the plants before he actually revealed his presence. The Lady’s Slipper
Orchid in Britain became an extreme rarity having suffered acutely from
collection by Victorian gardeners. Luckily, some of the plants that were
dug up are known to be of wild origin, and these have been used for
re-introductions into the wild. Abroad the Lady’s Slipper Orchid is also
far from common, however I enjoyed a rare experience when I saw a
colony of perhaps a hundred plants on a hillside in the Spanish
Pyrenees.
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| Ghost Orchid in 1972 hand held |
