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Title: Burnt Orchid 2 Medium: Watercolour and pencil What better way to brush up on my botanical artwork skills, for the illustrations in my upcoming book on growing native orchids, than by painting my favourite little gem? Unfortunately this is not a plant for the garden.It is too particular in its requirements. Far better to enjoy it in the few reserves where it can still be found.

Title: Ivy on Gatepost Medium: Watercolour This is a sketch in my notebook. The gatepost is actually somewhere in the Cotswolds but really it could be anywhere in lowland Britain. It just makes me think "autumn".

Title: Broad-Leaved Marsh Orchid Medium: Watercolour and pencil Marsh orchids are the most difficult group of our native orchids to identify, all of the species being very similar in appearance. As their name suggests they are, on the whole, inhabitants of very wet places from wet meadows through to marshes. They can be quite common where they do occur.

Title: Autumn Leaves 1 Medium: Watercolour In the autumn the green pigment chlorophyll breaks-down and is re-absorbed from the leaves of deciduous trees and we are left with the glowing colours of secondary pigments, mainly anthocyanins, together with the ravages of fungi and insects. As is typical for sycamore leaves, these have been infected with tar-spot fungus.

Title: Burnt Orchid Medium: Watercolour and pencil The charred appearance of the dark blackish-red hood of unopened flowers at the top of the spike of Orchis ustulata give it its common name of burnt orchid. It used to be thought that this species is extreme in the time its takes from germination to appearing above ground as a green plant. A period of 10-15 years was estimated but more recent research has shown that the time from germination to flowering can be as little as three years.

Title: Wild Teasel Medium: Watercolour Wild teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, gets its name from its spiny flower head which was used when dried to ‘tease’ out the fibres of wool prior to spinning. In this case those spines have trapped the recent snow now glistening as the sun breaks through.