Monday 16 July 2012

Rural Reading: Rare orchids enjoy wet summers


Being an optimist is pretty tough right now. When we should be enjoying summer we are faced with this never-ending rain, with grey skies and cool (for the time of year anyway) temperatures.
It seems to have become a bit of a pattern, the last few summers have been similar, perhaps not quite as bad, but still the summer of blue sunny skies and warm weather seems a myth now.
There has been a devastating impact on a lot of our wildlife, and along with the endless grey skies this can make the wildlife enthusiast, or indeed anyone who enjoys a bustling and vibrant countryside, quite depressed.
Some things benefit. The number of common spotted orchids (which are not common, although they are spotted!) has increased tremendously.
I found 60 in one place last week, although I won’t let on where that is because I have noticed some others at a more popular site have been picked.
Now that is what I find really depressing. People picking wildflowers, especially rare ones.
There was a time when every orchid that flowered in Reading was picked. Someone who knows where to look and how to identify these flowers also has enough knowledge to know that picking them will ultimately destroy them.

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