The ones that got away
I like to walk down to a spot by a derelict finca where I know the Marsh loose-flowering Orchids will be growing. By Neville James-Davies
Last week I wrote about some orchids that have inspired me over the years, and this week I am going to explore some more, this time in the Son Bosc area of Alcudia, on the outskirts of the Albufera.
But even to this day, despite a lot of searching, and maybe arriving too late to see them in flower, there are several that would be new to my orchid list and which I would love to see, which include Butterfly, Spider, Monkey, Fan-lipped Orchid
and one of my favourites to see – Violet Limodore.
I have been lucky over the years and found Bumblebee, Naked Man, Man and
Mirror Orchid, and two I would like to share this week include Giant and
Marsh Loose-flowering Orchids. Of course what takes me into the Son Bosc area are the birds on offer, with Turtle Dove, Shorttoed
Lark, Bee Eater Hoopoe
and my favourite the to name a few. But there are also five small lagoons here, part of the nearby waterworks site which offer a range of terns and waders – particularly Green Sandpiper and Whiskered Tern.
After exploring the area, I like to walk down to a spot by a derelict finca where I know the Marsh looseflowering Orchids will be growing.
Previously there only used to be a group of up to a dozen of these flowering to the left of the path in the short grass, but over the years groups have been growing in the fenced off boggy field to the right, and last April and May in particular there were well over 100 flowering plants. Rare and slender looking, it is confined to the Albufera nature reserve, and Nicole Beniston in her orchid book described them looking like ‘miniature flying angels’,
which I think sums up the soft purple flowers brilliantly. It is an impressive orchid and I have seen specimens up to a foot tall. One lovely scene here in late April saw a Common Sandpiper and a Cattle
Egret feeding together, and moving in and out of the orchid group, almost as if they were avoiding damaging these beautiful, delicate plants.
Another orchid I never tire of seeing is the aptly named
Giant Orchid. My first ever one I found was by the waterworks site where I had been watching a Purple Gallinule on the edge of the path, and as I walked by where it had been I noticed a tall orchid standing proud of the grass. I knew immediately what it was and was delighted to have found one in flower. In fact over the years this had been a regular site for me to find them, always a single specimen but lovely to see. A sturdy plant, it can reach a height of 60 cm, and the thick stem (often tinged purple) has a dense spike of fragrant flowers with colour forms ranging from a pale greenish-pink to a brighter purple. It was here I decided to walk through a small nearby copse for the first time, which as a good move as this brought me to an open area where I found a large group of Bee Orchids, plus a new site for me for Thekla and Short-toed Larks.
Bird guide to Mallorca and
the Eurasian Hoopoe available via https://www.nhbs.com/the -eurasian-hoopoe-book Private bird guiding and sites for rare plants via wildmajorca@gmail.com