29th May 2025

A rather scarce Lizard Orchid (Himantoglossum hircinum) popped up in the Miller Woodland Trust site in Chalkpit Lane two summers ago. Last year it didn't reappear but this year, despite the dry conditions, it produced two spikes. These fresh flowers illustrate quite clearly where it got its name from. Orchids, certainly in the south-east are having a bad year. The Man Orchids on the KWT Roadside Nature Reserve at Lower Rowling numbered just one-down from 54 last year. At Sandwich Bay many of the usual thousands of spikes of Lizard Orchids are just dried, shrivelled leaf rosettes with no prospect of flowering. That all makes this one rather special.

Lizard Orchid