Welcome to my Blog - let's start with Ghost Orchids!

 Hello everyone and welcome to my new Orchid Blog!

This will cover wild orchids, and maybe some not-so-wild ones, within the geography of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is a non-scientific blog, so I will avoid technical terms where possible, but I may delve into scientific subjects and espouse various spurious theories, as well as share a record of my orchid outings and sightings from other people.

All photos are my own unless stated, and photos and finds by others will always be credited to them.

I'll try and tempt you in by making the subject of my first post the Ghost Orchid, Epipogium aphyllum.

Last recorded in England in 2009 in Herefordshire, it has a long history of disappearance and reappearance, and therefore building itself a reputation of mystery and elusiveness - one that is rightly deserved. Apart from a (decent) number of people old enough to have seen it in Hollowhill Wood in Buckinghamshire in the 1970's and 1980's, it has become many peoples' most wanted species of plant in this region. This includes myself, I might add!

The reason I begin with this species is not just to attract attention to this blog, but because we are technically, as of 23rd July 2024, "in season" for it to occur. As an aside, it also happens to be the 19th anniversary of the day I first saw the species in the wild, in Southern Germany, so here is a photo of one of those very plants from that very day:

Back then, in a famous wood near Hufingen, in the Black Forest, we found approximately 600 gorgeous specimens, including multiple groups as in the photo.

As years went on, my visits to the site produced fewer and fewer specimens until on my last visit in 2011 fewer than 40. The warden describes photos from a book in the early 20th century where the forest floor was carpeted with Epipogium, "like snow". But now, there are none.

More of that shortly, but back to this season, and the UK. Most sightings are from the above-mentioned wood in Buckinghamshire, and its neighbour, Pullingshill Wood. Between 1953 and the last flowering event in 1987, Ghost was found in 23 of those 34 years, with a maximum of 25 flowering spikes in any one year. All of those sightings were between the first week of July and the last week of August, though some persisted into September, and even set seed. In fact, here is a photo of a specimen in the Natural History Museum in London of a plant from 1953 carrying capsules still containing seed.

Other areas in which it has been recorded have been Herefordshire and Shropshire between 1854 and 1910, single occasional sightings of plants collected - accidentally or otherwise, and Oxfordshire between 1924 and 1979, maybe even up to 1994. The flowering period for these has again typically begun in July, but has gone right through to the first week of October. So although there have been very few places Ghosts have been recorded, the records have been spread over a wide time period within each season.

This brings me to the modern site in Herefordshire, close to Hereford itself. Here, in this unlikely setting of mixed tree species planted by the Forestry Commission over various periods, is a deep ditch - a former cart track where a single spike was found on 19th September 1982 by Valerie Coombs (now Richards), and then, in 2009 another single spike was found after much searching by Mark Jannink, on 20th September. On both occasions the plants lasted until the 1st October before being felled by molluscs.

Here are a couple of photos of the 1982 occurrence, courtesy of Lyn Farrell and Simon Richards, two of only nine people who saw the plant.

The site was kept completely secret until around 2004, when a few dedicated people managed to find out details of the location. Searches began more regularly, culminating in Mark's remarkable find in 2009. 

And here is a photo of the 2009 plant, from the Museum of Wales herbarium, Cardiff, taken in 2011 when I visited to pay homage!

And the reason I mention all this is that maybe this is the year for the species to put in a new appearance, since we have experienced one of the wettest periods of weather for many years since autumn 2023. Prolonged periods of rainfall have plagued England since then and continue even now to date (we had a heavy downpour only last night in North Worcestershire). I am reminded of the comment by Rex Graham, who famously found the Buckinghamshire population in 1953 looking over the barrel of his pipe, when he said finding the 25 flowering spikes was "ample compensation for a wet summer".

Ghost Orchid has no leaves so cannot photosynthesize and therefore manufacture its own nutrition. It therefore relies entirely on underground fungi for all of its sustenance, so conditions suitable for good fungi seasons mean the same for Ghost Orchids, hence my excitement over the wet weather (sorry everyone!).

The truth is, though, nobody quite knows exactly what makes for perfect conditions for a flowering event to occur. In continental Europe it tends to grow at altitude, where as well as moisture, it experiences winter freezing, and therein lies another theory about what might be required. And last winter was certainly not a cold one, so my optimism may be misplaced.

But it isn't dampened (forgive the pun). I shall be searching, as no doubt will others. Right through to October, just to be sure.

Will the news get out? To me or to anyone else? Or will the events of the two Herefordshire sightings be repeated, where fewer than ten lucky people got to hear? Herein lies the problem, and this question takes me back to the Hufingen population.

The warden's opinion was that visitor pressure caused the demise of Ghost Orchids in that wood. Whilst it is unlikely to be the sole reason, there is no doubt it will have been a serious contributor. Ghost Orchid primarily reproduces via cotton-like threads that emerge from the rhizomes. These then fatten into new rhizomes and form new flowering spikes. These thin strands, known as "stolons", creep out horizontally less than a centimetre below the surface, in damp soil. Treading on this soil breaks the stolons and therefore prevents them creating new plants. You can see just how close to the surface all this happens in the photo below, where just a few pine needles (no soil) were carefully removed (then replaced) to reveal what goes on.

This is the dilemma; depending on where exactly a flowering spike emerges, should one be found, how would it be possible to protect the plant, and any other undetected ones, by preventing trampling of the habitat surrounding it? My guess is, it is not possible and therefore the plant will be best left alone to develop and maybe even reproduce. Even if that means the worst - none of us get to savour the moment and enjoy seeing what we have waited so long for.

But, let's hope a Ghost DOES get found, and it is viewable from a quiet country track that can be fenced off, and a host of happy volunteers warden it night and day to chaperone an even happier stream of admirers to view the plant, and then the subject of many a dream will finally come true for me.

Happy Ghost-hunting!

one of Rex Graham's original 13 Ghosts, found on 18th July 1953