Bee orchids are flowering again at Big Yellow Self Storage in central Norwich. This follows a blank year in 2025, when there were none in then 17 years of visits, on account of a very dry spring – see No show for ‘Big Yellow’ bee orchids in drought year (June 2025).
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| Bee orchid flower, close-up, at Big Yellow Self Storage. |
On my annual visit today (12 June) to Big Yellow Self Storage on Canary Way, opposite the Norwich City football ground, there were ten flowering spikes of bee orchids. It’s not a huge number, though compared with none, very good to see.
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| Bee orchid at Big Yellow Self Storage. |
The ox-eye daisies in the ‘meadow in the city’ were mostly over: I know they looked good in the spring. Curiously, across the road, with a backdrop of the football ground, they still looked good, presumably in less dry conditions.
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| Ox-eye daisies with the Barclay End of Norwich City FC behind. |
Other flowers I noted were as follows: black knapweed, ragwort, black medick, yarrow, wild carrot, lady’s bedstraw, mouse-ear hawkweed, creeping cinquefoil, common poppy, dovesfoot cranesbill and perforate St John’s wort. Common broomrapes and red clover had finished flowering. None of these are rare species, though most are likely to be absent from a closely cut sward.
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| Black knapweed and yarrow, among mostly gone-over ox-eye daisies. |
It was windy when I visited, so not the best time to see insects, or indeed take photographs, though there were three common blue damselflies among the flowers, a 7-spot ladybird and a red-tailed bumblebee.
I was able to explain to three passers-by about Big Yellow’s
helpful management here to create a wildlife refuge near the city centre.
Chris Durdin, 12 June 2026
Previously about Big Yellow’s bee orchids (selected):
No
show for ‘Big Yellow’ bee orchids in drought year June 2025
‘Big Yellow’ bee orchids 2024
Photos on Facebook 2022
Bee orchids bonus in lockdown (2020)
Bee orchids bounce back (2019)
Bee Orchids get my vote (2017)
Big Yellow bee orchids are back (2016)
The Meadow in the City (2015)
‘Big Yellow’ bee orchids 2024
