Ashwellthorpe Woods

 Our most recent field trip was to Ashwellthorpe Woods, a Norfolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve. This beautiful ancient woodland is noted for its large oak trees and stunning carpet of bluebells followed by wild garlic on the forest floor in the spring.

Just some of the wild garlic carpeting the woodland floor

The wood is also home to many other plant species which we observed, such as bugle and lesser celandine. These ground plants thrive here thanks to coppicing, the management practice employed by the NWT, involving cutting back young growth of trees to near the ground, allowing light in and a flush of fresh growth on the forest floor. The coppicing also supports many breeding birds, many of which we heard while on breeding bird survey transects, such as robin, wren, blackbird and blackcap. Some of the plants here are particularly special as they are ancient woodland indicators. These species require really healthy, old wooded areas to survive, and so their presence is in an indicator as to the high quality of the habitat. One of the especially cool ancient woodland indicators we found was the early purple orchid.

Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula)

Close-up of the early purple orchid

The early purple orchid is one of the earliest spring-flowering orchids, growing up to 40 cm in height with several spikes of purple/pink flowers. While uncommon, white flowers have also been observed on this species too! As an ancient woodland indicator, they of course inhabit ancient woodlands such as Ashwellthorpe, as well as grassland and hedgerow habitats. The loss of these habitats, especially due to agriculture is threatening the species, which luckily remains widespread throughout the UK so far. This orchid tricks bees and other pollinators by releasing a sweet smell when they flower in the spring to attract these insects. However, the flowers have no nectar as a sweet treat for these busy bees, and once fertilised, the flowers' sweet smell turns sour and unpleasant, the smell of cat urine! These flowers also have rich mythology, such as the belief that the leaves' characteristic purple spots are the drops of Christ's blood on his crucifixion. The early purple orchid has two root-tubers, one large and one small, which has given rise to several legends. The Greeks believed if a man ate the larger tuber, a boy would be born, and if a woman ate the smaller one, a girl would be born. In Scotland however, it was thought that eating the larger root would make someone fall in love with you, whereas eating the small one would cause them to hate you. Accordingly, the larger tuber was mixed with milk for use as an aphrodisiac, as well as the nutritious drink 'salep' when mixed with honey and spices as well. This apparently was an effective hangover cure - maybe we should've taken some back with us!