Hartslock Nature Reserve and its orchids: The rarest of the rare

Hartslock is a small nature reserve located on a steep hill overlooking the river Thames and hiding a national botanical treasure. Probably most famous for the colony of monkey orchids that occurs here, which naturally occurs in only one other place in Kent (plus a site where it was introduced), there are also majestic lady orchids present, as well as the hybrid of the two orchids- the only place in the UK where this hybrid occurs. 

During my visit, I found a lonely monkey orchid growing outside the reserve. It was a pretty orchid, but unexpectedly small- I was not expecting this orchid to be so small. The flowers had an interesting shape, resembling a monkey, but the entire bloom was rather messy in appearance, unlike the regal and fascinating appearance of the military orchid which I saw in 2021. Despite being rarer and still pretty, I think I prefer the military orchid over the monkey orchid. 

Proceeding towards the main orchid slope, I spotted a clump of monkey orchids nearby and then a huge swarm of hybrids. Unlike the unexpectedly-small size of the monkey orchids, the hybrids were a truly massive orchid, as large as the lady orchid I remember seeing in Kent last year. And, studying these hybrids, I felt that they were significantly prettier than the nearby monkey orchids, and about twice as large. And there was a massive swarm of them. 

Although it was said that there was no lady orchid there this year, there actually was one orchid which stood out to me- significantly different from the surrounding hybrids. Perhaps this one was indeed a lady orchid, or perhaps it still had a trace of monkey DNA in it, causing it to have an unusual appearance. 

Satisfied, I went uphill, encountering several more monkey orchids, including a rather large one growing near the top of the slope. This was the biggest I was able to find on the reserve today, and my favourite one- a few others approached it in size, but most were still very young plants which were barely flowering. 

I knew that there was a second monkey orchid colony elsewhere, and proceeded towards that place. Indeed, they were right there. One of them was fully in flower, but the other three were very small and difficult to see even from a close distance. 

There was also a colony of pasque-flowers nearby, some of which were in full flower

Inside the wood running parallel to the orchid slope, there were a few hybrid orchids, as well as a few helleborines. Having explored the reserve and being sure I did not miss anything, I decided to revisit my favourite orchids, focusing on the 'natural' monkey orchids, but also admiring the much more spectacular hybrids. 

It would be interesting to compare the monkey orchids, still fresh in my memory, when I visit a large military orchid colony in a week's time.