There is beauty to be found in the least likely places - like, for instance, the village of Thornton in Fife, Scotland. Anyone who knows the area would be hard-pressed to describe it as a place endowed with much natural charm, yet one only has to step out onto the maturing landscape which is gradually replacing what was once devastated scrubland left over from the demolition of the almost former Rothes Colliery (almost former because it never really got going well enough to be properly working, and in Blank Frank's opinion something has to be all there before it can be all not there and therefore former, but anyway now demolished and largely erased) on the Western edge of the village to observe large numbers of wild orchids in bloom, from early June to July at least.
Blank Frank is not an eco-warrior, but he has been observing this area over the last couple of years, mapping things, taking notes and photos, and has been suitably astonished by the spread and variety of these plants. The purpose of this page is to draw your attention to the site and suggest you get out there and have a look while you can, because its days are numbered. Without trying to get into it too deeply, it appears that conditions on the site - very shallow and poor soil, bad-to-nonexistent drainage and so on - are ideal for British native orchids, or at least the conditions are so far below ideal for the early colonisers and other plants which would normaly out-compete them that they have managed to establish a thriving community. That might give the impression that the site is fairly barren - far from it - practically every square inch of the site is covered in wildflowers, shrubs, young trees, fungi, thistles and all the stuff you would expect to grow on building sites, plus foxes, hedgehogs, creepy-crawlies, little furry things of various descriptions (plus a liberal helping of car tyres, old gas bottles, discarded domestic clutter, cyclists, kids, dog walkers, escaped garden plants) - the list goes on. While there is a great diversity of species on the site, this page will confine itself to the orchids - the proper ecological assessment of the area should be carried out by somebody - or more correctly Some Body - with the appropriate expertise and technical resources (goodness knows, we pay enough into the public coffers for this kind of thing - how about some payback?) to do a thorough job.
As for the orchids, Blank Frank has tentatively identified the following species - Northern Marsh, Early Marsh, Heath Spotted and Common Spotted. There are also many which defied identification, but which are probably hybrids - orchids are inclined to do this, apparently. Identification is hampered by the wide range of colours which may be exhibited by any given species, and the fact that nothing ever looks exactly like the reference photographs in the books to hand. Below are a couple of photos of orchids taken at the site, with no attempt to identify them.
As an almost-political footnote put thoughtfully in the middle of the page so you might see it before being dazzled by the graphics, Blank Frank finds it more than a little ironic that Fife Council, which contributes to the funding of the Fife Biodiversity Partnership (it gets horribly convoluted and recursive, but you might care to check out Fife's Local Biodiversity Action Plan, the Fife Environmental Network, Take A Pride in Fife project, Fife's Community Plan - you get the idea - there are probably whole committees set up just to work out the names for committees and plans - one has to wonder when any actual work gets done, but that's something for another day), has seen fit to dismiss this little ecological gem as being of no significance, without carrying out a detailed assessment, and to condemn it to being used for more houses (like we need more in the area - not). We're only talking about a few hectares here - since the site is so species-rich and enjoyed by so many local people for a variety of recreational purposes, is it so unreasonable to ask that they leave it alone and go and flex their empire-building muscles elsewhere (if they must)? Yes, its our own fault - some of us elected them (or failed in our attempts not to elect them), but it gets Blank Frank soooo angry. Grrrr...
Enough chat, here's some orchids photographed at the site.
Please note - the information in the next section has been left untouched as a reference, but parts of it have been rendered obsolete by developments which have taken place since this page was launched. Please retune your level of indignation to match the most recent UPDATE - section nearer the bottom of the page.
Now some directions on where the site is. Thornton lies between Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. If you go there by car, do not leave your car in the railway station car park - it will probably get vandalised. It might be safe if you leave it on Main Street or in the public car park at the library on Strathore Road. Here is a sketch map of the Thornton area to get you close. There is easy access to the orchid site via the industrial area entrance off Strathore Road (turn in a couple of hundred metres beyond the 30 mph speed limit), through the fence at the back of the playpark off Hawthorn Terrace or the path at the end of Orebank Terrace (the three black wiggly lines on the map, clockwise in that order).
Below is the enlarged area identified on the map above. The sketch shows several things. Firstly, it details all the major footpaths of long standing (20 years or more) on this part of the site, together with boundaries and features which you might be able to pick up on the ground or from maps, accurate to within a very few metres - the result of a survey conducted by Blank Frank for the purpose of recording paths, not specifically the ecology. Secondly, it shows you the exact locations of individual orchids or clusters in bloom found on one particular day (15th June, 2003) - there were many more, but those shown were considered sufficient to prove the point. Of course, things have changed dramatically since, and you will probably have to save the graphic and zoom in using your graphics tool of choice to make sense of the plot. Thirdly, for the benefit of GPS heads and OS map fans, the OS grid reference lines are shown - the graphic is scaled as 1 pixel per metre, so you can pick up precise 10-figure coordinates from it if you want. The strip along the middle from approx NT 28420 97215 to NT 28600 97230 is particularly good, and there is a major concentration further West on the site around NT 28000 97200. You have to be prepared to push through the undergrowth away from the paths to see some of the better examples, and you need to get the hang of spotting them - the orchids are generally shorter than the surrounding plants, so they may not be immediately obvious.
Hopefully, you will find the time and inclination to visit the site, preferably when the orchids are in bloom, and that you find it interesting and generally worthwhile, and subsequently complain loudly and and at large about what a shame it would be to plough it all up and build here. Oh, one final note, there was reference above to dog walkers - from that you should have concluded that it might be prudent to watch where you put your feet.
Here are some points written down as they spring to mind. Since the page was first launched, Thornton has fallen under the same spell as many other places in Fife - the speed limit is now 20 mph rather than the 30 mph mentioned above. The location of the end of the speed limit on Strathore Road is relatively unchanged, and the industrial area has only moved by the amount dictated by geological processes - plate tectonics, subsidence, and so on.
As expected, the area to the East has been replanted with houses and tarmac, indicated on the updated map below. This has not been met with universal joy. One of the consequences is that the paths off Hawthorn Terrace and Orebank Terrace as shown on the map above do not exist. The status of the Hawthorn Terrace path appears to be 'gone forever', and Blank Frank is uncertain about Orebank Terrace - at the least, the access point must have been relocated, and at most it may have been securely fenced off. This will require some daylight exploration and maybe a follow-up update. Strathore Road access is currently the best bet.
Depending on how accurate the measurements are, it looks as if the new houses may have taken out a patch of Early Marsh or at least the place where they were recorded in 2003. That can't be true because that kind of stuff is protected by law these days. It does rather beg the question though - at what point does a flowering 'weed' become a protected wildflower? Hmm . . answers on a postcard.
