All naturalists have their favourite ‘spots’ and when it comes to orchids I admit both to loving the discovery of new places but also to getting a lift to the soul from re-visiting certain ‘old haunts’. In truth, if I was told that, in my remaining years on planet earth there would be just one place I could revisit but no other, then I would unhesitatingly choose the Gargano peninsula – that spur on the heel of Italy’s boot down in the Puglia region – a lump of limestone that is a veritable outdoor evolutionary laboratory.
vast stone-strewn areas full of plants...
So, since we chose to move to Italy then why don’t we live there? Well, it is wonderful in spring but hot, dry and filled with tourist hordes near the coast in summer. And it is just that bit too far from the centre of things for the ‘other half’ who is not such a determined hermit as I am. However, for a total immersion experience with orchids and numerous other wild flowers in spring it is incomparable.
Gargano is home to some of the rarest and most intriguing of European orchids: on the left Lacaita's Orchid (Ophrys fuciflora ssp. lacaitae or O.lacaitae) and right the Siponto Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes ssp sipontensis or O. sipontensis).
I have written this post in two parts to try and convey the richness of this habitat and share my personal delight in discoveries over the past decades and some 30 visits. And it might just be opportune to note that we run our own trips each year to Gargano. You can finds full details on my website …if you fancy joining us next year then get in touch. The tentative date for 2011 is the 16th – 24th April
We will next be going down on 21st May 2010 to run a ‘macro’ and orchid workshop in conjunction with photographers Leonardo Battista, Matteo Perilli and Gargano orchid expert Claudio del Fuoco…for a lot more detail on Gargano click on the links below.
Hello Paul
Nice description, this spot looks to have an impressive wealth of vegetation and very probably also rich in insects.
I was myself in a similar place (but with a less dry climate) near my house this morning for photographing orchids.
This beautiful location is a limestone plateau consisting of dry grass to orchids and red anemones (Pulsatilla rubra), and sparse in many ponds. The site is called “Isle Cremieu”, and if you come to this corner of France, I would be happy to make you discover!
Best regards
Denis
Hello Denis,
You are right about the insects – in Gargano they are more in evidence than where I live though both the density of individuals and number of species around home is much higher than anywhere I know in the UK. You have a wonderful area near your house. I know of it but have not been. When my children were small we always went to France in summer vacations – usually somewhere in the Massif Central where I could go out early morning and evening without impinging on family. I used to see masses of Pulsatllla rubra growing on a pass near the Gorge du Tarn and just a few kilometres from that was a site for butterflies including the Large blue. Your country is fantastic for nature: every time I went I saw so much, particularly the small things. One of my early inspirations was the work of Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou – a great sense of the art in nature in their work. Their book Photographing Nature (1976) is one I still love. So…I may well take up your invite – I need to get back to France: it is where I would have chosen to live because at the time my French was far better than my Italian. It is now very rusty – my brain manages one language at a time it calls ‘foreign’ so I need to make it work.
Very best wishes and good hunting
Paul
Paul
dear Denis, Isle Cremieu seems a very interesting place to go, and also a mere 250 kms from the corner of Italy where I grew up and lived up to a few years ago… also the combination of ponds, the wonderful photos of amphibians on your site, orchids and a limestone landscape is a huge temptation… also because in a couple of weeks time I’ll be back in Piemonte for a few days… and also when you (Paul) will go there we should arrange to to together with a stopover in my village and our side of the Alps
Ciao Stefano,
This could well become an ‘expedition’ – we must chat!
Paul