Respected outdoor chronicler and poet Alfred Todger's regular take on the goings on in beautiful Muckthwaite,. This week Alfred describes a rare and beautiful orchid, Muckthwaitatis Carnivorovinious
Muckthwaite, Friday 14 July, 2006
There's not many folk as knows about the rare Muckthwaite orchid,
or to give it its full latin name, Muckthwaitatis
Carnivorovinious. In fact Muckthwaite Moor is one of the few
areas in the northern hemisphere where this little-known and
beautiful plant flourishes and the sight of a clump of them waving
gently in the wind is a spcial sight indeed.
It's around now, in the heat of the high summer, that the orchid
is at its best. Sporting a rotund, solid green base topped with a
weighty vase-like cup fringed with strangely delicate dark lashes, it
grows in small clumps among the native grass and bracken.
For if there's one thing Muckthwaitatis Carnivorovinious is
not, it's native. Brought from the depths of the Amazonian jungle by
local explorer Sir Charles Muckley back in the late nineteenth
Century, the plant rapidly adapted to the harsh environment of the
high moors and has been there ever since.
I've watched the species for many years, but last Friday I
witnessed a very special moment seen by few which I'd like to share
with you. It were a quiet, still day, the heat of the sun beat down
on the moors and nature and man, for once, seemed as one.
A small group of Muckthwaite Muckle sheep chomped contentedly on
the grass, young lambs gambolled merrily in the bracken. Then one,
approached a group of orchids. The little lamb nosed gently among the
flowers, then suddenly, with a raw speed that belied the gentle
ambience of the day, one of the orchid heads gave out a low sucking
noise and with lightning speed hoovered in the lamb before slamming
it's lashes shut. Seconds later a contented burp rent the air.
Reading up later, it seems that the Muckthwaite Orchid can
replicate the rate scent of a clump of grass growing on a motorway
verge, an aroma irresistible to sheep.
Some will find the idea of a sheep-eating plant unpalatable, but I
look at it this way. If it were any bigger, it could eat people and
that would be reet untidy and bad for business at Muckthwaite
Arms.
Alfred Todger
