Thursday 22 January 2015

A Black Day at the forge!!

In the front garden we HAD two Bee Orchids [Ophrys apifera] Orchis abeille...
I use the word "had" because someone didn't talk to his workmen...
and they, also, did not talk to us before they acted.

We have the roofers in to do the longère...
they use a huge JCB "Long-in-the-Arm" to do the heavy work...
some of the tiles are now off the roof and in a crate....
and they needed to put the crate somewhere to stock it.
Without asking us, they drove the damn machine along in front of the barn and hangar...
and have crushed out of existence the two Bee Orchids...
you cannot even see the fluorescent markers that I was using!!!

So, here is a final picture of one of our two Bee Orchids!


RIP...
little clown!

6 comments:

Jean said...

Oh dear, a sad day indeed.
Never mind, no point in crying over spilt milk, they're gone but at least you got to enjoy and photograph them for a while.

Susan said...

Don't despair. They are resilient little blighters. I bet you get more popping up somewhere. I've got two coming up in the lawn at the house, after none for a couple of years.

Colin and Elizabeth said...

I am sure you will get more... We had only a couple and now they seem to appear all over!!

Tim said...

Thanks, folks...
It isn't really the loss of the plants that is my real blood boiling rant...
it is the fact that we stressed that that damned machine was NOT to be used along there...
and we showed our roofer the site of the orchids and the other plants we have along there.
As it is, we will be losing all the back of the longère and a good chunk of the front lawn under those monstrous wheels...

He failed to brief his workforce properly...
that is the main problem...
coupled with the fact that they didn't even bother to check with us where they could put the tiles!!
It is a total lack of consideration for where they are...
our property, and we will be paying!!

On the orchid front, I have been fairly careful about distributing the "dust that is Orchid seed" around, at ground level on very still days!

The loss of the plants, however, could not have come at a worse time...
later this year, we are likely to be hosting the local Refuge LPO gathering...
timed for when the orchids are out...
and from a personal standpoint it would have been nice to show more than just the Lizard Orchids on the site...
and they won't actually be out then!

On a high note, the Pyramidal Orchid now looks to have two rosettes together...
Susan, is that likely?

Susan said...

Tim: Re the Pyramids, yes quite likely. My original patch of Pyramids is a clump of rosettes all together and has more flower spikes every year, indicating more rosettes every year.

Tim said...

Thanks Susan,
that is rather nice!!
It stood out like a beacon last year.

The Pyramids between Burnham Overy Staithe and Holkham in the dunes...
were all singles as far as I remember....
as were the B***** Orchids...
Always had to walk very, very carefully, allways!!
Bee Orchid, Pyramid, Natterjack Toad... all might be underfoot!!
No birdwatching until you were standing still...