Flap your wings!

Hi folks,

recent weekend I crawled around my favourite orchid meadon again.

But most of the ochids I found end of May and the beginning of June were already withered.

But I found two "new" orchids I newer saw before, because I never went orchid hunting end of June.

So if you are not yet fed up with looking at native orchids, here are my new arrivals:

This is Anacamptis pyramidalis, known as the Pyramidal Orchid, in German: Pyramiden-Hundswurz.

The arrangement of hermaphroditic flowers in a compact pyramidal shape is very distinctive

and gives the orchid its common name.

 This orchid is native to southwestern Eurasia, from western Europe through the Mediterranean region eastwards to Iran. In Germany, it is rare and was declared Orchid of the Year in 1990 to heighten awareness of this plant.

The second beauty I found on Sunday was...

...Gymnadenia conopsea / Fragrant Orchid / Muecken-Haendelwurz

This plant is quite common throughout northern Europe with the exception of the Dinaric Alps. 

In Asia it is common in areas to the north of the Himalayas.

But on Sunday there was much more to explore on my piece of dry grassland!

As far as I know this beautiful butterfly is called the Common Blue. 

In German the Polyommatus icarus species is known as Hauhechel-Bläuling and you find many of them on a stroll through the nature.

The yellow flower is a Inula hirta, in German Rauer Alant.

Large areas of the dry grassland were covered with it end of June.

But additionally to the Common Blue I took some pictures of two more butterflies:

Vanessa cardui, known as the Painted Lady, or in North America as the Cosmopolitan,

in Germany known as Distelfalter.

And even more beautiful (in my eyes) was...

...Argynnis adippe f. cleodexa = High Brown Fritillary, in German language: Feuriger Perlmutterfalter

Have a great and colourful workweek!

And flap your wings!

;-))

Cypripedium calceolus - Gelber Frauenschuh - lady's-slipper orchid

OK, ladies, what about some new slippers?

Lady's slippers in the fresh springtime colour yellow!?!?!

I've a special offer for you: some pretty nice Yellow Lady's slippers not every woman has in her shoe cabinet at home... ;-)

 No idea what size of shoe you have, but I hope you like the model I've chosen for you...

It's neither from Manolo Blahnik nor from Jimmy Choo, I found these yellow lady's slippers in "my" nature reserve where I found many of our other native orchids as well.

By the way: you cannot order them from Amazon or from Zalando... ;-)

What might be especially interesting for you:

 they are really rarely, so not available for everybody!

Who wants to wear the same slippers like the neighbours!?

At four different hidden spots in the nature reserve I found distributions of Cypripedium calceolus; sometimes just two plants, sometimes even a whole bunch of lady's slippers.

 These two photos are documenting the most fertile place of discovery where I saw more than 15 blossoms of this species at one spot.

At the end of my shooting...

...a sunbeam broke through the canopy of leaves and threw nice light spots on the orchids "shoes".

Last but not least somebody shot even the orchid hunter with his Olympus rifle and a his favourite close-up lense and monopod as ammunition.

 That's the one and only type of weapon I use in nature (and everywhere else) to shoot my objects of desire... ;-)

I hope you liked my trip through this special shoe shop... ;-)

Ophrys sphegodes - Early Spider Orchid - Große Spinnen-Ragwurz

No, it's not just another post about the same native orchid I posted three days ago, this time I wanna present another ophrys species out of the same family - more or less a "cousin" from the orchid I posted recently.

left: ophrys sphegodes  - Early Spider orchid - Große Spinnen-Ragwurz

right: Ophrys fuciflora - Late Spider orchid - Hummel-Ragwurz

The Early Spider orchid is a bit insignificant-looking compared to its more colourful family member Late Spider orchid.

You really have to come close to its little bloosom - otherwise you may not see how beautiful it is.

The flowers have yellow-green sepals and a velvety brown labellum with a distinctive H marking so that the flowers much resemble an arthropod and especially a spider.

Compared to the Late Spider orchid I found much more of this beautiful little flower in our local natural reserve. 

Have you ever tried to search for native orchids in the region you live?

Many of these European orchids exist from Scandinatia to southern Europe, but of course not all the species in every country. 

Good luck in your search for native orchids!

Native orchids in northern Italy

...cur! ;-)

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Some time ago I took a break from the job, from telephone, from Internet, even from TV and radio, 

but (of course) not from photography. 

Taking photos is a kind of  meditation and relaxation for me, especially if I paddle my own canoe!

We found a nice and quiet haven amidst a great olive grove, a small B&B hotel high above Garda Lake. 

What enchanted me most on the hotel grounds (aside from the fantastic view on the lake) was the fact that we found native orchids right on the grassland above the building we lived.

So please follow me on my orchid tour through the olive grove; 

the five different native species I found end of April flowered in the sunshine next to the olive trees,

but not directly in the shadow of the trees. 

This white beauty is Cephalanthera longifolia, known as 

Sword-leaved Helleborine or Narrow-leaved Helleborine in English.

Der deutsche Name ist Langblättriges oder Schwertblättrige Waldvöglein.

The most frequent orchid species on our grassland was of the genus orchis - 

known as Knabenkräuter in German.

More precisely: Orchis simia, the Monkey orchid (Affen-Knabenkraut)

Crimson red or nearly white - it's the same species:

orchis morio - Green-winged orchid - Kleines Knabenkraut

Now we chance the genus: Ophrys - Ragwurzen. Most of them small but colourful floral gems.

The characteristic "H" gives the right hint: it's a Ophrys sphegodes,

the Early spider orchid, in German "Große Spinnen-Ragwurz".

Last but not least the ophrys gem you only find in northern Italy, mainly around Lake Garda:

Ophrys benacensis - the Lake Garda orchid/ophrys - die Gardasee-Orchidee!

I hope you enjoyed my little tour through the hotel garden on top of beautiful Lago di Garda.

Cordiali saluti, Uwe.