What is out in May

The old saying goes, April showers bring forth May flowers. Let’s hope this rhyme rings true and we have some wonderful flower displays.

Many orchids start to flower during May; Military Orchid, Monkey Orchid, and Green Winged orchid. Later in the month Southern March Orchids and Early Marsh Orchids will hopefully be in flower; but as always, this is very much weather dependant.

Talking of weather conditions, the Bluebells may be late flowering this year. Last week we were photographing woodland plants, the Bluebells we saw were only just starting to flower; although we did see the odd one in full bloom.

Other flowers we can hope to see are, Common Comfrey, Yellow rattle, Greater Stichwort and Solomon’s seal.

More and more species of butterflies will be seen as the warmer weather brings them out of their hibernation. Adult demoiselles start to emerge and Dragonflies too will be seen darting about in the warming days of May.

One flower not to miss is the Snake’s head fritillary. It looks rather like a lantern swaying in the breeze. A good place to see these flowers is North Meadow NNR in Wiltshire.


Snake's Head Fritillary