area, we heard scuffling and pitter-patter, and saw a hedgehog in the tent. Some of you
may remember that a year or two ago we had Field Crickets in the tent that prevented
sleep every night. Some years ago in England we had frogs inside, and on another
occasion, moles. And, of course, the dawn chorus, at about 4am, always wakes us with
the huge shouts, including Cockerels often, and on one site, Peacocks. And we usually
find a multitude of flying insects at the top, inside the dome, that we have to try to
remove before we take the tent down, otherwise dried insects fall out when we next
erect it somewhere else. One thing about camping, whether in Britain or abroad, is that
you are so close to nature that you actually get invaded by it all!
A few days after we returned to sunny Essex we were in Belhus Woods Country Park
inspecting Bee Orchids. All were unremarkable, except one, which had 6 equal pink
petals/sepals and no 'bee' at all (see photos). The Ranger had asked me to come and
look at this strange plant: whatever was it? The flowers were all the same on the one
plant. The column, where the sexy bits are, in the middle of the flower, was almost
normal, but otherwise the flower looked more like some sort of lily. I knew this sort of
mutation is one of several to which the Bee Orchid is particularly prone. This is because
it is nearly always self-pollinating, which is a bit incestuous and leads to these genetic
problems. You can see in one picture the pollinia have both curved down over the
stigma to pollinate this flower. Other orchids are better organised with their cross-
pollination and rarely produce mutations. I mentioned this to Ken Adams, who lent me
a little book about Bee Orchids in the Shire Natural History series, printed in 1985 but
still good, and I am grateful to Ken. It said there that in southern Europe the Bee Orchid
has an insect pollinator (a type of solitary bee, in the genus Eucera) so some plants at
least arc fertilised in the usual way. But in Britain these insects are so rare as not to be
useful at pollinating Bee Orchids, so the self-pollinating mechanism, less needed in
warmer climes, is used all the time. Although you may sometimes see a bee landing on
a bee orchid, they never go near the flowers because the presence of one or two 'bees'
on the plant indicates the plant is already 'occupied' and no nectar will be available. In
fact, the Bee Orchid has no nectar anyway, but its special bees are drawn to it because it
produces pheromone substances associated with the female that attract only the right,
male, bees. Then, of course, the real male bee tries to mate with the orchid 'female bee',
but fails and goes on to try another, and in so doing he pollinates these frigid females.
But not in Britain! Or not until the climate is warm enough to allow the special Eucera
bees to increase substantially in Britain.
You will notice very few references to the weather this time. This is because the weather
recently has been so extraordinary and dramatic that it has made headlines almost every
week for months, so everyone knows about it!
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 54, September 2007
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