The first signs of the Orchid season began to make an appearance, and so there was no waiting, I just had to get out there to try and see Britain’s earliest flowering orchid – which has an unsurprising name of the Early Purple Orchid! I decided to head over to North Wales to try and find this beautiful plant.

Bluebells, anemones, wild garlic (c) T Hughes
I ventured into many woodlands in hope of finding the target species. The ancient forests were alive with spring flowers – carpets of bluebells, wild garlic, and cowslips in the clearings. I had traversed many long forgotten stiles into overgrown pathways, areas that had clearly not seen the likes of a tourist since the 1970’s. I persisted, and persisted, and meticulously persisted! But alas, to no Purple tinted avail.
This came as a real surprise to me because this Orchid can be locally abundant and has a widespread British distribution, but apparently where I had walked didn’t tick all of its boxes. The light was dropping below the tree line and the landscape was getting darker, so I had to call it a day.

The Early Purple Orchid, Orchis mascula (c) T Hughes
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