This debut season’s most difficult even frustrating subject is by some distance the miniature and inconspicuous Frog Orchid, that for the sharper-eyed may be found along the Chiltern escarpment on both sides of Aston Rowant NNR and also at NT Watlington Hill. I had seen one on a single previous occasion at the first site in 2021, and so possessed a picture to refer to. But my basic reference the 2013-published Creed & Hudson Berks, Bucks & Oxon guide (see here) recommends the second as the best place to find them from June to August.

Starting at the latter in early July, I was advised they are tricky little things that blend in with even short-sward surrounding vegetation, and rarely appear in the same place year upon year. Sightings online all seemed to stress how difficult they are to pick out, but that once spotted the observer may soon be rewarded with more. Cue those early evening stomps around Watlington Hill, without success that produced the rather more visible fungi of two posts ago. Oxon wildlife colleague Wayne at this point suggested I transfer attention to Bald Hill (SU722960) on the south side of Aston Rowant NNR, where especially small 3 – 7cm specimens may occur right through August.

Two searches there on 15th and 17th left me none the wiser, though a person who follows this blog contacted me to say they were present. It was time to enlist expert assistance and so I arranged to meet Wayne on site this morning (21st). He enjoys a certain reputation for Orchid finding in county wildlife circles. Sure enough he had turned up four specimens by the time I arrived, and 19 were counted before we left, the best being pictured above.

All were indeed small but I nonetheless felt I should have picked out some of the better ones on those earlier visits, even allowing for my companion’s prowess. The tone of the 5 – 25 flowers on stems up to 20 cm (in other places), varies from yellowish-green through pink to reddish brown, and these are said to suggest the hind legs of a frog. Sources I have consulted agree that a resemblance to those amphibians is a stretch of the imagination, but the left hand image (above) is possibly the most frog-like overall of those observed today. Here (below) are a few more.

This is a widespread but patchily distributed plant across the British Isles and mainland Europe, but in steep decline due to habitat loss from conversion of pasture to arable land, possibly more so than any other Orchid. Though tuberous it propagates almost entirely from seed with little vegetative spread, so the drought of a year ago would not have helped their cause. In southern England they favour chalk and limestone habitats, such as today’s location. As I was told at the start of their season it is a short-lived species of which many plants die out after just one year above ground. So all in all it is indeed a tricky, perhaps fickle little number and one I now feel very pleased to have recorded in my home county.

On the second visit my attention was caught by numbers of Gentian at the western end of the south-facing hillside here. My Seek app ID’d these variously as Field and Autumn Gentian, then failed to distinguish some scarce and much sought Chiltern Gentian further east along the slope. On reading things up I learned the paler Field Gentian is unlikely either this far south or in the habitat, and in any case has four petals per flower to the other two’s five. Erring on the side of caution I at first assumed all the plants I had seen were the commoner Autumn species, thinking the differences between it and Chiltern (see here) were subtler than they actually are.

With Wayne’s guidance I have now gained a proper education on these iconic plants that bring many wild flower enthusiasts to Aston Rowant NNR. Rather than go into detailed dissection of flower components I will let the above two pictures (taken on 17th) illustrate the difference as they clearly do. Surveying the hillside back from the Frog Orchid end on 21st we found good numbers more Chiltern Gentian, the highly localised county flower of Bucks, the blooms of which stand out as being larger and wider when open. In bud the brown and cream tones of Chiltern is also quite distinctive, as in the last two images of the following sequence. This wet summer is clearly a good season for both species.

The overdue conversion of Frog Orchid pretty much concludes this journal’s first serious Orchid hunting season. They really aren’t that much to look at, are they? But the satisfaction from such a difficult result is possibly in inverse proportion, so there’s another slippery slope! My year’s tally in approximate order of appearance is:

1. Giant Orchid – undisclosed site (Oxon)
2. Green-winged Orchid – Bernwood Meadows (Bucks), Asham Meads (Oxon), Wendlebury Meads (Oxon)
3. Early Purple Orchid – Sydlings Copse (Oxon)
4. Heath Spotted Orchid – Woodside Meadows (Oxon)
5. Early Marsh Orchid – Lye Valley (Oxon), Parsonage Moor (Oxon)
6. Military Orchid – Homefield Wood (Bucks)
7. Fly Orchid – Homefield Wood (Bucks), Warburg Reserve (Oxon)
8. Greater Butterfly Orchid – Homefield Wood (Bucks), Aston Clinton Ragpits (Bucks), Warburg Reserve (Oxon), Hornleasow Roughs (Glos)
9. White Helleborine – Homefield Wood (Bucks), Grangelands (Bucks), Aston Clinton Ragpits (Bucks)
10. Common Twayblade – Homefield Wood (Bucks), Aston Clinton Ragpits (Bucks)
11. Common Spotted Orchid – Homefield Wood (Bucks), Grangelands (Bucks), Aston Clinton Ragpits (Bucks), Clattinger Farm (Wilts), Tuckmill Meadow (Oxon), Woodside Meadows (Oxon), Lye Valley (Oxon), Hornleasow Roughs (Glos), Parsonage Moor (Oxon), Sydlings Copse (Oxon), Dry Sandford Pit (Oxon), Watlington Hill (Oxon)
12. Chalk Fragrant Orchid – Grangelands (Bucks), Aston Clinton Ragpits (Bucks), Woodside Meadows (Oxon)
13. Bird’s Nest Orchid – Warburg Reserve (Oxon), Pulpit Hill (Bucks)
14. Burnt Orchid – Clattinger Farm (Wilts)
15. Southern Marsh Orchid – Clattinger Farm (Wilts), Tuckmill Meadow (Oxon), Parsonage Moor (Oxon)
16. Pyramidal Orchid – Hornleasow Roughs (Glos), Grangelands (Bucks), Aston Clinton Ragpits (Bucks), Sydlings Copse (Oxon), Watlington Hill (Oxon)
17. Lizard Orchid – undisclosed site (Oxon)
18. Bee Orchid – Farmoor Reservoir (Oxon)
19. Marsh Helleborine – Lye Valley (Oxon), Dry Sandford Pit (Oxon)
20. Musk Orchid (gone over) – Grangelands (Bucks)
21. Broad-leaved Helleborine – Aston Clinton Ragpits (Bucks), Warburg Reserve (Oxon)
22. Violet Helleborine – Warburg Reserve (Oxon)
23. Autumn Lady’s-tresses – Greenham Common (Berks)
24. Frog Orchid – Bald Hill (Oxon)

Not found:

• Marsh Fragrant Orchid – Lye Valley (Oxon), Dry Sandford Pit, Parsonage Moor and Cothill Fen (Oxon)
• Lesser Butterfly Orchid – Warburg Reserve (Oxon)
• Narrow-lipped Helleborine – Grangelands (Bucks), Warburg Reserve (Oxon), Aston Rowant NNR (Oxon)
• Green-flowered Helleborine – Lambridge Wood (Oxon)

The last Orchid to bloom in any season, just when most others have gone over is the diminutive and delicate Autumn Lady’s-tresses. After pictures of them began to appear on Facebook, I went to check out what is reputedly England’s largest colony at Greenham Common in neighbouring Berkshire on 15th, in company with Ewan. BBOWT directs visitors to an area 100 metres east of the site’s control tower car park (RG19 8DB – SU 499650), where upon our arrival these plants were not difficult to locate. Once our eyes were in there just seemed to be more and more of them, all around.

Thousands of this fascinating little number might erupt across short-sward areas of the former military airfield if conditions are right in August and September, but this Orchid is also prone to dormancy for seasons on end before re-appearing in even greater numbers. 2023 is as I expected in a wet high summer a prolific year, following on from the drought of 12 months ago. The sheer quantity of emergent plants here today matched my experiences earlier this year of Heath Spotted Orchid at Woodside Common, Oxon (see here) and Chalk Fragrant Orchid at Aston Clinton Ragpits, Bucks (here). Great care was required in selecting best items to take pictures of without trampling upon nearby, less photogenic subjects.

The tuberous Autumn Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) is characterised by up to 25 tiny bell-shaped white flowers splashed with pale-greenish yellow, growing spirally around 10 – 20 cm grey-green stems. The petals are covered in short white hairs. It is a resemblance upon close inspection to braids of plaited hair that gives the plant its name. This was the first British Orchid to be recorded in the 16th century, actually 1548 when braiding of men’s hair would no doubt have been less known than today.

Autumn Lady’s-tresses

ALT grows mostly in southern England, sporadically elsewhere in open, neither too dry or moist locations such as short-grazed meadows, heaths, dunes, cliff tops or calcareous grassland. The single, upright flowering stem appears from the side of a flattened rosette of pointed, bluish-green leaves. Those wither before flowering time, when the blooms’ delicate fragrance attracts pollinating, night-flying insects. The species also occurs across much of continental Europe and adjacent areas of north Africa and Asia.

The subtle, under-stated beauty of this old-fashioned plant, unchanged or hybridised over six centuries since those earliest English records, possibly needs to be beheld to appreciate properly. It is the spiral nature of the blooms and likeness to braided hair that is perhaps most alluring. Autumn Lady’s-tresses: what an evocative name! Such an enduring proliferation here and now on the site of a former cold-war military facility that will forever be associated with potential for mass destruction in the not so distant past, may be testimony that nature in the end and whatever the setbacks will prevail. And that is something I have faith in very firmly!

After my spring ramblings around local Orchid-filled, ancient flower meadows this year and the enlightenment that such places exist, I rather lost enthusiasm for searching out the residual species to record as June progressed. Most of those locally comprised five of the nine British Epipactis Helleborines that bloom from July into August. These subtly different Orchids grow in open spaces in woodland on calcareous soils and are often found in damp environments. All are characterised by long, skinny stems of small, subtly-toned flowers.

Marsh Helleborine

The first to announce themselves were Marsh Helleborine (pictured above) that I observed at both of Oxford’s calcareous fenland sites: the alkaline spring-fed Lye Valley LNR on 27th June, then BBOWT Dry Sandford Pit on 4th July. This plant, as the name suggests favours such wet, marshy habitats that may be flooded during winter and retain high moisture levels through summer. Described as scarce in the British Isles, they grow from 30 to 50cm tall with loose clusters of up to 20 whitish and pink or purple flowers facing mostly to one side suspended on reddish stems.

Broad-leaved Helleborine

After returning from my mid-July trip to Provence I saw on Facebook that Broad-leaved Helleborine (pictured above) was viewable at Aston Clinton Ragpits (HP22 5NF – SP888107). Having already recorded that favourite site of the season’s seven other Orchid species this one would complete the set. It is the most common and widespread member of the epipactis group, growing in and around deciduous woodland particularly of Beech. Individual stems can grow up to a metre tall with as many as 100 flowers that might range in colour between pink, shades of purple and pale green. I located them at the far edge of the wooded area adjacent to the site entrance, and finding the first-time sighting more interesting than I had imagined my motivation for this project became restored.

Violet Helleborine

It still remained to experience three more new Helleborines, of which Violet and Narrow-lipped have occurred historically at BBOWT’s Warburg Reserve (RG9 6BJ – SU721 878) near Henley, and the smaller Green-flowered at nearby Lambridge Wood (SU731843). I visited both sites on 7th Aug and several Violet Helleborine (pictured above) at the first one were impressive plants indeed. Closely related to Broad-leaved, these deep shade lovers may also grow to a metre high though the greenish-white flowers are less variable in colour. The stems and leaves may both be tinted purple, giving the plant its name. This once widespread, notably long-lived Orchid has undergone serious national decline over the past 160 years and now only survives in ancient woodland such as this.

The acting Warburg warden advised that though the reserve is still cited for Narrow-lipped Helleborine, few if any remain. Another site speciality, Lesser Butterfly Orchid has also not been recorded in 2023. And on 7th I also failed to find Green-flowered Helleborine where I had been advised to look in Lambridge Wood, though that last item is said to appear until early October. Finding these less profuse things in the field is clearly an imprecise art.

After such a wet July the fungi season may have started early this year. I include posts on the fascinating “fifth order” sparingly herein, since mycology is such a highly complex and scientific field involving continuous discussion and expert re-classification of so many similar species. Hence I limit coverage to more stand-out items, and this discovery at one of my favourite local stomping grounds fits the bill.

In the first week of August, while making a final failed attempt to find Frog Orchid on Watlington Hill (SU705934) my attention was caught by groups of large and rather stately, creamy-toned mushrooms that my Seek app ID’d either as Grisette (Amanita vaginata) or the unrelated Stubble Rosegill. But the former is normally a woodland species, while the latter though a good match visually is described as occurring on arable stubbles after harvesting, muck piles or heavily fertilised grassland. Why should either be present so significantly on a calcareous hill-top?

Consulting an informed local source I was directed to Amanita malleata that has been reported in England only here and at one other site in the Derbyshire Peak District, though it could be undiscovered elsewhere. I visited twice in two days, having gone out minus a SD-card on the first, exploring more widely on the second day when the scarcity announced itself more and more in all stages of its fruiting cycle (pictured below). The epithet malleata comes from the Latin meaning hammered, arising from indentations in the crown that are evident in the first two images. To my mind this approaches the Oxon Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) spectacle at North Leigh Common (see here), though not on quite the same scale.

Amanita malleata

My understanding is the then unknown Amanita came to the attention of local mycologists in 2006, though it had first been described at the site in 1988 / 89. Consultation with experts abroad eventually led to the mystery item being named as A malleata some five years later, after much deliberation. Data on what is a member of the A vaginata group has been published from Italy, France and Spain, and it is not thought to occur beyond continental Europe. The published references I have consulted (see here, pages 30-32 and here, pages 24-5) date from 12-13 years ago, since when this mushroom has clearly proliferated further at the Chiltern escarpment site.

The reason for the speciality Amanita being here is because it occurs in or amongst a dwarf woody perennial plant Helianthemum or Rock Rose, with which Watlington Hill is clothed by extensive carpets. Various other less visually striking fungi share that close relationship or “symbiosis” at the site, the most frequent groups being Cortinarius (Webcaps) and Inocybe (Fibrecaps). These are examples of “ectomycorrhizal fungi” that form mutually beneficial associations with the root systems of particular plants from which they draw nutrients. In return the mushrooms contribute to their hosts’ growth and survival in various ways. Two rather more colourful participants are Lurid and Rooting Bolete, that I located in good numbers here and there within the Amanitae eruptions.

I have a particular liking for the Boletes, an 80-strong family nationally of stout, pored not gilled mushrooms with fleshy caps and thick, bulbous stems. Some of these occur widely within the Chilterns AONB, both in woodland where they have mycorrhizal relationships with Beech, Lime, Oak and Pine trees; and on chalk downland in association with woody plants. The generic name Boletus comes from the Greek bolos, meaning lump or clod. Their convex, cushion-shaped caps are normally dry or slightly viscid in wet conditions, never glutinous. Spores are produced in long tubes or pores under the caps. Most are edible and some very choice in that regard, commanding good prices from restaurants for savvy foragers. They are reputedly richer in protein than any other food except nuts.

Lurid Bolete (Boletus luridus), one of multiple reddish species, is distinguished by mesh patterning on the stem as the above pictures show. It is fairly frequent in the British Isles and continental Europe in late summer and autumn, mostly on alkaline chalk soils. The epithet luridus means sallow – an “indefinite but unhealthy colour”. The cap (typically 8 -14cm, exceptionally to 20cm) is downy and pale yellow in young specimens, becoming dull yellow-brown as the fruiting body matures, and the flesh turns blue-black if bruised or cut. Beneath the cap, yellow spore tubes terminate in tiny circular pores that are at first yellow but eventually turn orange-red. The underlying surface of the stem, beneath the netting is also yellow. This is said to be a tasty mushroom and almost all of those I found on visit one had been gathered a day later.

The second Rock Rose associate at Watlington Hill was Rooting Bolete (Boletus radicans), the smoky-grey caps (5 – 20cm) of which are usually dented and misshapen, particularly in more mature specimens such as those pictured above. The pores are an especially attractive yellow, turning blue if touched or cut. The yellow, cylindrical or swollen stems are quite variable in form, also displaying fine reticulation (netting) and sometimes a reddish zone at the base. This species is not considered fit for human consumption, having a bitter taste and unpleasant odour. Three large specimens I found here (pictured above) on the second visit nonetheless appeared to have been tucked into by less picky small furries.

More Amanita malleata (scaly specimens)

When I went back on 11th many of the Amanita malleata had withered, more had been removed and some that remained displayed a scaled appearance reminiscent of Parasols (pictured above). The spectacle that had enthralled me so a week earlier was now past its best. This has been an intriguing and informative exercise, as well as an education to myself, a relative novice on the symbiotic interaction between fungi and host plants. The treasure that is this little known Amanita in such familiar local surroundings will soon lie dormant again for another season. It should be well worth enjoying next year or whenever weather conditions might once more be favourable.