2.6.26 Mallorca orchid trip

At the start of April we were in Mallorca on a holiday to Soller with the side hustle of hopefully seeing wild hardy orchids. There are plenty of good sites known to the orchid world, but by my wrong timing and bad planning I initially failed to find any!

This was mitigated somewhat by visits to two nice little hardy orchid “gardens”. At the Soller Botanical Gardens they have a few pots sunk in the ground. Bumblebee orchids (Ophrys bombyliflora) were looking good.

At Parc Natural de s’Albufera reserve near Pollenca a dozen species were arranged around a small square. Although mostly over there was still a good spike of the Balearic bee orchid (Ophrys balearica). It is a very lovely local subspecies of the Ophrys bertolonii group, endemic to the Balearic islands.

Orchid gardens may be cheating, but these places are certainly worth a visit. They were 2 weeks past their best, though!

On our last day I was in orchid desperation and going down with what the internet says is “Magaluf flu” (despite going nowhere near that place or any nightclubs!) I took a taxi to Castell de Bellver. It sits at the top of a hill in the middle of the pleasantly wooded Parc de Bellver, just outside Palma.

Randomly choosing a series of small, winding paths through the woods down from the top I saw six different orchid species growing wild and plenty in full flower. These were: Balearic bee (Ophrys balearica), Mirror (Ophrys speculum), Tongue (Serapias lingua), Long-spurred (Anacamptis longicornu), Conical (Neotinia conica), and Sombre bee (Ophrys fusca). I can recommend the park as a good place to see many of the island’s orchid species together.

I am just recovered from the flu now after 2 months. Probably the medical authorities are right that “Magaluf” flu doesn’t actually exist. It’s not a thing. (nasty, though!)

Anthony.heys@sky.com