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On Course with Nature at Toft Country House Hotel and Golf Club

Retired GP Nigel Turnbull, Senior golfer and keen naturalist, has enthused recently over the appearance at Toft of two uncommon species; the wild sunflower (elecampane) and the bee orchid. (Click the image for a larger version).

The clever little bee orchid has  flowers which look like bumble bees settled on a pink flower and are efficient insect mimics. The flowers even secrete a sex pheromone to attract male bees and entice them to mate with the flowers to ensure cross-pollination. Nigel describes the elecampane as ’a fabulous wild flower‘ which has returned to the Bourne area thanks to James Dair and his team. The elecampane is very uncommon in this part of the country but used to flower in a ditch at the top of Toft hill alongside the Bourne road until destroyed by hedge cutting about 10 years ago. Nigel reintroduced it to Toft from plants saved by the late Doreen Hunt who was an ex-biology teacher and amateur botanist.  It is an attractive native plant and increases the attraction and biodiversity of the course. As with the bee orchid, the greenkeeping team are especially careful to protect the plants from mowing and other work on the course.

Somebody once said that a round of golf is a good walk spoiled. Not at Toft, if the golf is not going well, just look around you and enjoy what nature has provided, mostly for free but significantly due to the efforts of people like Nigel and the Greens Staff.