After the relative lack of success in finding orchids at Crooked Brook, I was determined to see if the same fate of “orchid exodus” had befallen my other local spots. As such I popped out to Manea Park after work on Tuesday, and while there are signs of lots of sun orchids either just starting to or preparing themselves to bloom, there was not a huge amount of other finds. Not even any Pink Enamel Orchids, at the location Elspeth had told me she had seen some a few years back:
I recognised some of the basal leaves of sun orchids preparing themselves for a later show, but the above one had me puzzled. I thought it may have been a Custard Orchid but I was wrong and it was not till Friday that I found out what they are. I’ve only seen one before in mid-November 2020 and that was a fair way to the south, and it was only because Howsie pointed it out that I saw it: https://sandbagged.blog/2020/11/13/south-coast-revisited/. Therefore, I’ll definitely be coming back here over the coming weeks if only to check how these Slipper Orchids (Cryptostylis ovata) are going:
While I didn’t find too much I wasn’t completely put off, and working from home on Thursday I thought I could duck out to the Capel Nature Reserve. My intention being to go a bit earlier in the afternoon, hopefully when there may be a bit of sun to encourage the sun orchids to open up. But work seemed to get in the way and despite starting at 5:30 I was still staring at my screen ten hours later. I eventually got out but again there was nothing to report and I didn’t even take one image, although as I wandered round I did catch up with Howsie on the phone:
It has been a busy month for many in the local climbing fraternity, and as such we have not caught up as we would normally on rock. Howsie did say he was heading out with (climbing) Josh early Friday for a before work session at Welly Dam. I pondered my options that evening, and while it was very tempting to meet them up there, for a quick couple of hours, I decided against it. This may seem out of character for me, but it is a reflection of what I’ve got happening at work and I would have been thinking what I had to get done rather than focusing on the climbing, detracting from the enjoyment:
Instead of an early morning climb I was back at the screen at 5:30, about the time the boys would have been arriving at the crag. And I was pleased I didn’t go, as it was a hectic morning. Although on the positive I got another retirementitis update from Verity, an previous work colleague. And in that she had a whole bunch of images of the orchids she had spotted round Perth this year. It was her update that enthused me to give the little plants, one more go this week and so after a mere seven hours of screen time I headed out:
Today it was time to check out Ambergate Nature Reserve, which had been lacking in spider orchids the last few times I had been there. I decided to walk all four quadrants in reverse order. It was more of a speed march round the first three, and I only spotted a couple of orchids. The second image in this post shows the conditions, the sun was out and there was plenty of colour about. A good day to be out and as I had suspected, the place came alive in the fourth, or first if I had gone the normal way round, quadrant:
The next image from Ambergate is of a small sun orchid, possibly the Slender Sun Orchid (Thelymitra vulgaris). I have to admit I have been having real trouble in trying to identify the various species of sun orchids and the differences are very subtle. Seemingly even more so than the variances in white spider orchids, which I kind of gave up on a bit earlier this season. The next two spider orchids (images above) are repeat finds, being the Swamp Spider Orchid (Caladenia paludosa) and Rusty Spider Orchid (Caladenia ferruginea) but I couldn’t resist including them:
Then I got really excited, even though some may say what I spotted is a little common and plain. Having finally found the White Fairy Orchid (Caladenia marginata), which are about half the height of the Pink Fairy Orchids and also have a smaller flower. So I know what I have seen in the past has been albino Pink Fairy Orchids, as opposed to the true whites. I again did not find any Pink Enamel Orchids, so feel even more lucky to have spotted them at Dunsborough a week or so back. On the final leg more and more spiders were popping up, unlike at Crooked Brook the pest controllers had not been here:
The specimen two images above initially had me stumped, but now looking in more detail it is probably another Swamp Spider Orchid. Similarly the one below, which is the taller of the two plants in front of the trunk in the above image, had me foxed. But now I am confident it is a Rusty Spider Orchid, and flicking between images in this post you can see how much each species can vary in appearance. The final image from Ambergate is yet another spider orchid and this one I am hoping is something different, but I can’t figure it out:
The proportions just seem different enough but I’ll have to wait for Noel to come back to me to provide some advice. As I was getting to the end of the walk I came across a lady, camera in one hand and umbrella in the other. She too was out hunting and was somewhat more serious than myself, as the umbrella was to remove the issue of glare to achieve better images. We pondered a few of the finds and had a chat during which she kindly advised of a spot that I have to date not check out. I left her to enjoy hunting in Ambergate and set off to check out the place she had suggested:
It was conveniently on the way home, so I popped off the highway onto Ruabon Road and as per the directions given drove a short way up until I could see all the sun orchids. Back on foot I started to check out the scrub, and found plenty of Scented Sun Orchids (Thelymitra macrophylla), of all colours from pale blue through to a deeper purple. But that was not what I was after and I kept looking about. I found the familiar basal leaf, but none of the plants had an open flower. This is an orchid that (work) Josh was very keen to spot, so I kept looking. Eventually I found one that was open, and as is often the case I then spotted another, and another, and so on:
Being the Leopard Orchid (Thelymitra benthamiana), and like the Slipper Orchid I have to date only spotted one before: https://sandbagged.blog/2020/10/18/creepy-crawlies/. This year however it is a bumper year, this place was littered with them and Manea Park also looks like it will have a bumper crop of them too. It was a surprisingly good spot and I also spotted some Sandplain White Spider Orchids (Caladenia speciosa) shown in the next image, and as I was driving out I saw an elderly couple obviously also on the hunt. I stopped for a chat and they too had been advised of the bounty of Leopard Orchids here, and we got chatting:
Long term fanatics, they gave me a few pointers for some other areas to check out, as well as some very specific details of places I have been too. They were also the people who told me about the Slipper Orchids at Manea Park. I stored the additional information for later use and for now it was time to get back home to the screen, and my first task was to tell Josh where to go to see the Leopard Orchid. Today the old saying of it is not what you know but who you know proved its worth. Although, in the sometimes cut-throat pursuit of orchid hunting, it can also be a question of whether who you know is willing to tell you what you would like to know:
Sandbagged 