A Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust member has shared his appreciation of flowers as part of the 30 Days Wild challenge. The Trust is encouraging people to do something wild each day in June to get in touch with nature.
Paul Patrick was on one of his daily dog walks and had an unexpected surprise for his 30 Days Wild experience. After seeing an article in the Nottingham Post a few weeks ago, Paul had been keeping a keen eye out for different orchid varieties whilst out on his daily walks.
On his recent walk at Foxcovert Nature Reserve, near Calverton, he came across nearly two dozen bee orchids. Paul said: “I often visit Foxcovert as it's my closest Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve to where I live. It’s a fantastic reserve to enjoy all year round for nature and has some great walks connected from it.
Read more: Get involved with 30 Days Wild this June - the UK's biggest nature challenge
"Whilst nearby the reserve the other day walking my dog Poppy, I found over two dozen orchids most of which were bee orchids which shows they are thriving in the area and is great to see. I wanted to let the Trust know as I had seen their article about bee orchids the other week.
"I have a keen interest personally in nature and especially orchids, I even dedicate an area in my own garden which I leave as a wildflower area and am delighted each year to see which orchids pop up in my own back garden.”
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is keen to hear from anyone providing their wildlife sightings via their online record Nature Counts. It enables the public to submit wildlife sightings to the Trust, to help make better, more evidence-based conservation choices on nature reserves and beyond, informing the Nature Recovery strategy in Nottinghamshire.
The data collected will also feed into records that can be used by ecologists and scientists across the country to inform national policy decisions about nature and the environment, and national assessments of biodiversity.
