Orchids of the Kent Downs
- Nicholas Turner
- May 27, 2020
- 1 min read
Updated: Feb 3
26th May 2020
I decided to go on an all day orchid hunt at three of the best places I know in Kent, namely Wye Down, Yockletts Bank and Park Gate Down. All three are on the North Downs chalk and are reasonably close to each other although getting from one to another involves driving down very narrow lanes and often having to reverse when meeting cars coming in the opposite direction! My first surprise was that the Lady Orchids at Wye Down had almost finished flowering and so were at least a couple of weeks ahead of last year. At the bottom of the slope there were plenty of Common Twayblades, a few Man Orchids and some Common Spotted, Pyramidal and Chalk Fragrant Orchids just starting to flower. Since the Lady Orchids were ahead of schedule I wondered about the Late Spider Orchids and sure enough at the famous site with the cages there were three plants already in flower.
Next stop Yockletts Bank where again the Lady Orchids were past their best. However the Fly Orchids here were in great shape, some being about 30 cm in height. On the right hand side of the reserve there were more Fly Orchids and also an impressive number of White Helleborines in flower together with 1 Greater Butterfly Orchid.
Finally on to Park Gate Down to see the Monkey Orchids which again were ahead of last year in terms of flowering. The best examples this year were in the middle of the three fields. Also some small Fly Orchids and the first of the Chalk Fragrant Orchids.
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