This is a record year for the orchids. Eighteen thousand wild orchids were counted this year in Tongelre. The orchid count has been kept in the district since the seventies.
Most wild orchids have been counted in places that the orchid working group in Tongelre prefers to keep secret. But the number is now so large that you can find them in many other places. In the central reservation of the Eisenhouwerlaan, there are dozens of orchids in a group together.
The rise of the flowers is due to the policy of the municipality of Eindhoven. It has stopped mowing the roadsides for a few years now. As a result, all kinds of new wildflowers appear. These attract new species such as the Gentian butterfly.
With ecologist Kees van Grevenbroek we go in search of the flowers. “The orchid has something magical,” he says. “Just look at those little spots and those beautiful shapes.” In the store, you pay quite a sum for them, but the one in the middle strip has no special value. Picking the wild orchid is prohibited, by the way, because the flower has a protected status.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translation: Chaitali Sengupta. She also gives online INBURGERING classes.
