Plants - Late Spring

Green Winged Orchid

Last year we missed out the fantastic sight these Floral royalty make in the few meadows they survive in. Orchids have caught the imagination of botanists in late spring for time immemorial. Within ten miles of Ely Early Purple, Green Winged, Bee and Pyramidal are among the orchids that can be found. They are local, scarce, temporal, and therefore exciting to find. Look for them on unimproved meadow and rough ground.

This year we made it to Chettisham Meadow in time to see the Green Winged orchid that flowers in this very old meadow. Hidden amongst the ox-eye daisies, and after a few mistaken ‘there’s one’ from twenty feet, only to reveal some pink clover flowers, we found a good few resplendent in their delicate purpley-pink petals with a centre of purple spotted white. Their tuborous stems are more easily seen when less hidden in the depth of other vegetative cover, but once you’ve got your eye in, the already flowered stems and their still in flower compatriots are easy to find. By the middle of June they will be gone, so be quick
Top Spots
Chettisham Meadow (TL 540 830 or N+52 25’ 26” E+0 15’ 54”)

Bluebells

This year Bluebells seem to be later and in nearly as many places as last year. The hard winter seems to have pushed a lot of things back a few weeks, such as the Orchids we’ve seen at Chettisham Meadow. The spectacular Bluebell colour is a great indicator that summer is not far off, and is always easy to spot before the woodland floor becomes a clogged competition for access to sunlight. Try looking on any damp floor of a deciduous woody area, and you should be rewarded
Top Spots
West Fen Road Verge (TL 525 809 or N+52 24' 19.4" E+0 14' 29.5")

Pollarded Willows
O.K. not a plant, but we thought it was worth getting these fine trees into this page. There are a few good spots to see old Pollarded Willows in this area. They are now more a historical artefact of the agricultural community that has passed them by. Nevertheless they are a majestic site to see and can remind of when their greenwood was much in demand for parts of everyday objects from chairs to sheep hurdles and Eel Traps
Top Spots
Beald Drove (just West of A10 on West Fen Road) - walk up it, don't drive! (TL 524 808 or N+52 24' 16" E+0 14' 23") and Middle Fen Bank, Prickwillow (TL 577 817 or N+52 24' 34.4 E+0 19' 9"). Beald Drove has an old Pollarded Willow with two Green Woodpecker holes in it that can be seen (see photo on right)

Bird's Foot Trefoil

This flower will take a bit of looking for, but you'll be rewarded by a not very common siting. Preferring grassland areas without too much competition this plant often does well on chalky (calcareous) soils - so don't look on the fen, try the upland that may have more chalk in the soil. It is sometimes called bacon and eggs due to the red and yellow colour of the early flowers. The flowers grow to two to three centimetres and tend to trail along the surrounding vegetation. 'Bird's Foot' comes from the layout of the seed pods (you'll need to look again later in the year) and 'Trefoil' from the arrangement of its five leaves, which appear as a pattern of three leaves
Top Spots
On the ‘bridge’ between the Roswell Pits on Kiln Lane. Look on the bank just over the fence on the South pit (the smallest one) closet to the Cathedral (TL 553 806 or N+52 24' 5" E+0 16' 51")