Treshnish Orchids
One of the joys of living here for me has been getting to know the Treshnish orchids.
Different species
We have recorded 14 different species of Orchid so far on the farm.
They are: Narrow leaved helleborine, Early purple orchid, Northern marsh orchid, Heath spotted orchid, Common spotted orchid, Small white orchid, Common twayblade, Early marsh orchid, Lesser twayblade, Broad leaved helleborine, Fragrant orchid, Birds nest orchid, Frog orchid, Bog orchid.
Abundance
Some flower solitarily and not every year. Others are abundant and grow in crowds.
Every year I go and look for each species. However I don’t always find them. (I have only seen the Bird’s nest orchid twice in the 30 years we have lived here, as it doesn’t flower very often).
Four favourites below…
Early purple orchid
Early purple orchids are the first to flower here. They appear in early May when the grass on the cliff edges where they like to grow is short, offering no shelter to the orchids from the sea breezes that whistle up from the sea below. You can see in the photograph the one on the left looks burnt by the wind.
One year I photographed dozens of the Early purples individually as they are each so different.
Narrow leaved helleborine
This white beauty grows along the track near the tin schoolhouse. Prasad protects the few plants growing here with cages to stop the rabbits eating them.
Northern march orchids
These are quite common and favour damper areas of ground. You can see them beside the track on the way to Haunn and in the ditch beside East Cottage! A couple of years ago there was an area of Toechtamhor’s garden which we couldn’t mow until about 40 of them had finished flowering. The last 2 years there have only been half a dozen. We don’t know why!
Early marsh orchid
During lockdown I wanted to see all 14 species in one season. The Early marsh eluded me. Prasad told me where to look but I must have gone in the wrong direction, and I didn’t find them. This year, inspired by photographs of EMOs on Shetland I decided I was going to look again. And we found several! Very close to where Prasad suggested we looked. They grow in a bog near the path from Larch Mhor (Reudle Schoolhouse) to Glad Gugairidh. It was so exciting to find them.
