Last Blast for 2011 - a visit to The Burren


Epipactis atrorubens, early August, The Burren

And so to our final orchid hunting trip of 2011 - The Burren. We have visited this marvellous place many times over the years, but never as late at this. Our ambitions were to find Autumn Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) and Dark-red Helleborine (Epipactis atrorubens). In the event we did far better.

Our first stop was on the limestone pavement above Ballyvaughan where I had previously seen gone-over plants which I was convinced were ex-Dark-red Helleborines, sure enough, we found some in very good condition despite the lateness of our visit. I am sure the late flowering of this and many other orchids we found on our visit was due in no small part to the cold, wet summer that we in West Wales and Ireland have suffered this year. We also found many Fragrant Orchids (Gymnadenia conopsea) in excellent condition. The powerful scent of this lovely flower meant that we didn’t have to try too hard to find them – it was absolutely ravishing, and there were numerous plants still in full flower throughout The Burren.

 



Fragrant Orchid with a white Common Spotted-orchid



We moved on to Fanore and Black Head on the coast of The Burren in search of Spiranthes spiralis. We found small groups in a very localised area close to the public car park at Fanore dunes.  There were also many  Fragrant and Pyramidal Orchids flowering there, too.  On our way back to Ballyvaughan we found several  pure white Dactylorhiza fuchsii-type orchids.  I can only conclude that these were very late-flowering Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza O’kellyi) plants.

Frog Orchids, rare and hard to find

As we left the Burren we decided to make one final stop to one of our favourite places ‘up on the top’ between Ballyvaughan and Corofin. Considering the lateness in the season the number of wildflower species still in flower was amazing – Harebells, Bloody Cranesbill, Mountain Avens, Self Heal, Lady’s Bedstraw and numerous others were out in numbers comparable with springtime. Again we found many Fragrant Orchids, but the icing on the cake was  finding  a solitary Frog Orchid (Dactylorhiza viridis) growing on one of the grassy tussocks.