Orchid Medley

The weather has remained cooler and damp over the last week but in another dry window I nipped to a site I haven't visited for many years - Nob End SSSI. There are many picturesquely-named reserves across the north west, fair to say this one falls into the 'schoolboy humour' category, but it's an absolute gem at this time of year. As part of the Kingfisher Trail along the river Irwell it links up to Moses Gate and Darcy Lever Gravel Pits but on this morning I accessed it from the northern end and the footpath leading over the old canal locks and down into the rough meadows which make up the site. Bolton's industrial heritage is on view everywhere, most notably in the shape of the Kearsley Mill chimney looming in the distance, providing an atmospheric backdrop to the wild flowers on display. 

As a former dumping ground for alkali waste used in the textile industry, Nob End has an unusual soil composition which in turn leads to unusual flora. The stretch of the site alongside the river was dominated by shrubs and bushes and there was more giant hogweed along the riverbank itself. A rabbit dived into cover and I watched as a carrion crow harassed a buzzard whilst a wheeling group of feral pigeons provided an unusual third party to the action. On the close-cropped turf self-heal and eyebright predominated with the occasional spotted orchid but it was the meadows further from the river where the floral spectacle really caught the eye. 

         

Rosebay Willowherb and the Kearsley Mill        Wildflower Mix

Most prominent were the fragrant orchids, several hundred flowerheads across the stretch of meadow in rich purple colour. Despite the cool temperatures a pair of six-spot burnet moths had elected to pose photogenically on one of the flowerheads. Hawkbit formed a golden blaze across the green and hidden away were some less gaudy characters. Spotted orchid was less numerous than fragrant but the more delicate candy-striped flowers could be seen mixed in with their darker cousins. However the most numerous orchid present was perhaps the least expected with masses of marsh helleborine, this the only place I've seen it locally away from the dunes at Southport and Lytham and in abundance. 

    

Marsh Helleborine                            Fragrant Orchid                        The Two Together

On a warm, sunny day I imagine this site would be alive with insects but today beside the burnet moths I only spotted a common plume posing nicely in the grasses and a yellow-faced bee on a hawkbit flower. 

 

    

Plume Moth                            Spotted Orchid                            Yellow-faced Bee

The cooler and wetter conditions have meant much less moth trapping back at base but on the one occasion this week that the trap did venture out it proved worthwhile with two new species for the year - beautiful hook-tip and blackneck.

Blackneck                                    Beautiful Hook-tip