On the 17th June while I was down the Tarka Trail I was surprised to find a clump of 42 Early Flowering Orchids flowering behind the seawall just the river side of the wall.
Yesterday afternoon when I was there again, I was dismayed to see that all but about 5 had been mowed down as a result of seawall management.
Enquiries at the Civic Center today revealed that this had been done by the Environment Agency who have a statutory duty to keep the seawall clear of vegatation. The grass cutting is sub-contracted out to people who obviously don`t know the difference between weeds and orchids!
Yes, Early Flowering Orchids may be fairly common but to see a large clump of them was a nice sight.
You would think the E.A. could have waited a week or so for them to have set seed but I`m told cutting has been brought forward this year because of rapid growth of vegatation which has to be cut early. So much for the countryside and the environment.