As the weather forecast for Saturday was good, I decided that I’d take a trip down to Durlston Country Park to see the Early Spider Orchids.

We had a pleasant drive down and arrived about an hour after setting off which was quicker than I expected. A quick trip to the information centre provided the information on where to find the Early Spider Orchids, as well as the Green Winged Orchids, Early Gentian & Adders Tongue Fern.

Finding the aforementioned items was however a completely different matter. The Early Spider Orchids were easily found as were numerous Early Purple Orchids, but the Green Winged Orchid proved more elusive until a trip back to the visitor centre revealed that we hadn’t walked far enough out.

After running into a volunteer out in the field we managed to locate the Early Gentian & Adders Tongue Fern, the Early Gentian being much smaller than I was expecting, then we moved out past the lighthouse to see the Green Winged Orchids which were plentiful.

So all in all, it was a successful outing with 3 orchid species seen, and the sightings of the Adders Tongue Fern & Early Gentian being a really nice bonus.

A good start to the 2008 Orchid Season.