Sometimes orchids grow in unlikely places.  One is the spoil heap created when the Channel Tunnel was built, which has been landscaped to form a site called Samphire Hoe near Dover where thousands of Early Spider Orchids have found the poor soil an ideal place to grow.  Other orchids grow in woodland in deep shade and many more grow on the chalk downland soil that is so common in Kent.  Some species are very common and grow all over the country, but we have a few very rare varieties that only grow in our county.  I’ve read that there are up to 25 varieties that can be found in Kent, so I did my best to see just how many I could find.

I guess most people think of Kent being a flat county but it’s not called the Garden of England for nothing and there are many very picturesque places.

Devil's Kneading Trough

One of my favourite places to go is a Nature Reserve called Park Gate Down which this year at various times has had 14 different orchids in flower including the very rare Monkey Orchid (Orchis simia).  It’s not unusual to meet people who have travelled great distances just to see the rare orchids growing in a particular place.  Some just want to see them and some take pictures just like me.  I met with a couple from Leeds who had travelled all the way to Kent just to see the Monkey Orchids growing.

Early purple orchid (Orchis mascula)

It is always lovely to find single orchids growing but for me the sight of thousands growing together is one of the best sights there is.  One of the most spectacular sites this year was Marden Meadow, where for just a couple of weeks each year the ground is covered with thousands of Green Winged Orchids (Orchis morio).

So how have I got on?  I think on the whole I’ve managed to find every orchid I’ve been looking to find so far.  There is one more that flowers at the end of August called Autumn Ladies Tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) that I have never seen before but it’s another very small one so will be hard to find.  I know of a couple of sites where they are supposed to grow so hopefully I’ll be lucky.

The worst thing this year is that it has been incredibly wet and windy weather in June and then not much better in July, so it’s been really hard to get pictures as sharp as I would have wanted on many occasions.  I’ve learnt a lot about my camera though: what works and what doesn’t and of course there is always next year and the orchids will be back and so will I, to find them all once again.

See my Webshots album with more orchid pictures here.