- A Healthy Cluster of Lady Slippers
For the inaugural post for WCAI’s The Daily, we put on our walking shoes and headed up to the woods of Mashpee to check out the Lady Slipper orchids. And, fair reader, the time to go see these beauties is now! In a few days, the weather will heat up, the bugs will descend upon the woods, and the lady slippers will move from the brilliant fuchsia color they have now to a paler ballet shoe pink, their petals will descicate and they will disappear for another year.
My favorite place to find the lady slippers is on the beautiful Chickadee Trail in the Mashpee River Woodlands. These woods are not only an ideal lady slipper spotting location, but also are heavenly for bird sightings. I typically see Osprey, swans, Downey Woodpeckers, and sweet little Nuthatches.
And remember, look but don’t touch! This wild orchid is quite rare throughout the U.S., so we on the Cape are extra lucky to have such a healthy bunch of them growing amongst us.
What a great tip – I didn’t realize they changed color so dramatically. I will be sure to head to the chickadee trail sooner than later!