More from the Golf Course

 Although the orchids are a great attraction, there are other beauties on the Golf Course and along the Spey. July is a great month for seeing them.

Beside the Spey looking towards Kingussie and Creag Beag

A group of Melancholy Thistle with their silver backs to the leaves

Melancholy thistle bud and flower

Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) has single flower heads and has no nasty prickles at all, unlike the other thistles.  The second part of the name -heterophyllum- means "two sorts of leaves" as the leaves can have different forms. Some have straight edges and some have fingerlike lobes.

All the leaves have a woolly underside that looks white and is visible from a distance.

A few posts ago I talked about finding Red Clover on a housing estate in Inverness.  There is plenty of Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) around the Golf Course and Wildcat Trail:

Red Clover - note the three leaves just under the flower, often with a white v

There, is also a similar, less common look-alike: Zig-zag Clover (Trifolium medium) The flower is a brighter pink and does not have any leaves immediately under the flower.

Zig-zag Clover

The Globeflower (Trollius europaeus) is also blooming just now but is already forming seedheads. You can read more about it in this post.

Globeflower and seedhead

The flowers grow quite easily from seed so I am hoping they will establish in my wildflower lawn.

A trip around Newtonmore Golf Course - just the orchids!

 This post will be a bit different as it is just a record of some of the flowers I saw on the circular walk along the Golf Course and back along the Spey. The orchids are blooming, as are lots of other flowers, so it is well worth a walk round.

I saw at least 5 different kinds of orchids.  The most uncommon one was the Small-white Orchid (Pseudorchis albida) so I counted them and saw 26, all in a particular area in the rough at the side of one of the fairways.

Small-white Orchid with Yellow Rattle in front and behind

The other orchids were too numerous to count.  Northern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella)(like the one in my "lawn"), is such a deep purple that it is easy to spot. In fact, I even spotted some in the road verge from the car when driving past the Wildlife Park on the back road between Kincraig and Kingussie. 

There were plenty of Greater Butterfly-orchid (Platanthera  chlorantha) and Heath Fragrant-orchid (Gymnadenia borealis) as well. 

Northern Marsh-orchid and Heath Fragrant-orchid

 Greater Butterfly-orchid

Heath Spotted-orchid

Another Heath Spotted-orchid? or maybe a hybrid.

There was one very large orchid which is often a sign of a hybrid between two different species. Hybrids tend to be more vigorous (think of  the F1 seeds you buy for the garden.) 

I saw several other plants which I will talk about about in my next post.