Peter Clifford, Chairman of Woodland BATS, the local conservation group, writes:-
'A local parishioner recently brought to my attention a patch of Bee Orchids that springs up in the middle of Chilton Industrial Estate but often gets mown down by overzealous contractors. This year I negotiated with two companies to leave the plants alone and only cut round them. The result is a little forest of over 100 plants - see the photos. So a good result.
What still puzzles me is how did this plant work out to make it seem as though a bee was feeding on it? This is super natural selection surely!
Apart from being an amazing plant, Bee Orchids often disappear for several years at a time and then reappear because they are entirely dependent on a symbiotic relationship with a mycelium in the ground. If it is a bad year for the mycelium then the orchids do not grow. Because of this it is virtually impossible to transplant them and so important to preserve any patches that we find.
If you want to see the plants live, they are adjacent to Mauldon's brewery (just to the right of the rear entrance) on Church Field Road by a post and wire fence.'
Diary date!
Woodland BATS’s AGM is on Sunday 11th July at 6 p.m. at the Pavilion Room at the Bridge Project in Gainsborough Street, Sudbury. In addition to normal business, the meeting will feature a film on the Tatra Mountain Nature Reserve in Slovakia. There will also be a short presentation about environmental issues in East New Britain in Papua New Guinea from Serah Nerius who is a local Chief!
Nothing parochial about BATS then! For more information call: 01787 730674.
