A buzz seeing orchids

Looking for Bee Orchids this month didn’t go well. I searched a couple of the usual spots locally, without any luck. I didn’t want to travel far given travel is still ‘essential-only’ but I wanted to show Tania these marvelous little creations. Good friend Tony, my best man when Tania and I married, is my orchid go-to reference. He had found a few spikes just down the road so following his excellent directions we came across a dozen or so spikes. Searching the cliff face we also found a few more too. One even being visited by a bee!

Florida

The photos from our trip to Florida are now published here if you have the time to take a look.

 

Goodbye 2019

Well, we’re nearly there. A new year. A new future. A new start.

As we stride forward over the threshold drinking our ‘cup of kindness’ it’s hard not  to look back. For Tania and I it has been a year of paperwork, patience and facetime. That’s now over. For good. 2020 will cement our future… together.

On the wildlife front 2019 was again full of sightings. The Bay of Biscay trip sits high on the list of favourites; how can a rare petrel and a cast of whales not be up there. Lots of highlights on the tours and day trips. Two trips to Australia were also up there. A place I’ve become to regard as my second home. However, the trip Tania and I did to the South coast of Victoria in July around Warrnambool sits atop the pile. Just the variety of birds, wildlife, locations and photo opportunities was just fantastic.

So what of 2020. Florida is on the agenda, the Forest of Dean. Oh! … and a Wedding! The round the UK mammal tour will run as will Central Scotland and the East Coast Seabird Tour. Cornwall, Scillies, and Cumbria are also all booked and will run. Whatever, 2020 brings it’s set to be exciting, different and interesting. I couldn’t ask anything more from life.

The photo is a Black shouldered Kite that we spend a pleasant evening photographing on Victoria’s south coast. Happy New Year!

Wildcatch Photography

Just a reminder that my photos are published on the ‘Wildcatch Photography’ site. The the ones from this year can be seen within the latest section at https://wildcatchphotography.zenfolio.com/p34814967

 

Dragons in the air and Dragons at our feet

In Dorset at the moment leading the ‘Birds and Wildlife of the Jurassic Coast’ Tour.

This Wall Lizard was caught unawares as it ran out from underneath our feet; posing beautifully for photographs. Other dragons have been flying around us as we walked over the heaths with great views of Keeled Skimmers among many others.

Lots of butterflies, and I mean lots; including Lulworth Skippers. Orchids are having a good year here with Musk Orchid being at the top of our list on the tour for sure. Moths yesterday were seen in droves with good views of both large and small Elephant Hawkmoths, Privet Hawkmoth, Hummingbird Hawkmoths with Scarlet and Jersey Tigers putting in an appearance. Even the sea got in on the act and gave us a pod of 30 Bottlenose Dolphins to celebrate our arrival.

Birds haven’t disappointed either with Dartford Warblers and an evening visit to a local heath giving great views of five Nightjar around us in the air together.

Next years tour is already open for bookings. Full itinerary is available at https://www.wildlifetoursandeducation.co.uk/app/download/11123950/Itinerary+-+Birds++Wildlife+of+the+Jurassic+Coast+2020.pdf.

 

Nesters

We held the ‘Photographing Orchids Workshop’ at the beginning of the month. Not only did we come across birds nest orchids; we also came across the nest of a Meadow Pipit secreted into a tussock of grass.

Orchids

A good year for Bee Orchids in this county this year. Not a spectacular year for Man Orchids.

 

 

Herts Bucks Butterfly fest

A good day trip into Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire this last weekend. Good weather, good company and good Butterflies … plus a few Orchids thrown in. Thanks to Tony for the subsequent identification of the Duke of Burgundy aberration.

Dingy Skipper

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy form Leucodes

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Greater Butterfly Orchid

Grizzled Skipper

Small Blue

Twyblade

Greater Butterfly Orchid

2018 – the best bits

2018 for me set off being a somewhat muted year but rapidly escalated into something as special as it gets. Finding someone special to share my life was a revelation that I didn’t expect. The downside of that is a whole planet separates us. 2019 will be spent putting that right.

One discovery for me in 2018 has been the state of Victoria in Australia. The pull of this part of such a remote continent has been extreme. It’s undulating landscape, amiable weather, compelling wildlife and of course one special inhabitant have made this the most special place I’ve ever been. Australia is just the best. My two months here within 2018 have been the most outstanding part of my personal year. Within that two months Tania has taken me to some fabulous places. Mountains, remote bushland, deep dark eucalypt forests, small islands and open wide beaches. However, one place stands out in my mind as it holds birds that have been a part of my life for so long in the UK. Rare birds. Birds that blew to the UK as waifs and strays. Birds such as Red necked Stints and Sharp tailed Sandpipers. In Victoria, Werribee has a water treatment plant holding these birds in mind boggling numbers. Numbers I could only have dreamed about. Who would have thought a sewage plant would have topped my years best bits… but it has. It even topped the Beluga in the Thames!

But what of my professional year. There have been some great times. Scilly once again was terrific, so was Wales, the Farnes were at their best and the Scottish tours were formidable. Picking the best? … well that’s easy. The 2018 Mammal Tour of the UK. Without doubt the best tour I’ve ever done. Some fabulous wildlife; Minke Whales and Dolphins of three species you could have touched. Red Squirrels, Pine Martens and Badgers at arms length. However, to single out one moment of the tour I would have to go to a small beach at the fishing port of Wick on the Scottish East coast. Reading books from being a child through to adulthood enables everyone to conjure up dreams. Bucket lists. Events to experience. Things to see, places to go. I crossed off number one on my own bucket list on that small beach last May. My guests and I experienced the sight of a Walrus in British waters. OK it’s not the cuddliest looking animal you’ll ever come across. But hell … what an animal!

Roll on 2019. Happy New Year.

Quiet and Peaceful

You would think that Norwich, the county town of Norfolk, being only 100 miles from the centre of London would mean the whole of the county would be overrun with visitors. However, it’s a county where it is still possible to find remote areas. Remote and quiet.

I had been out on the marsh for around 2 hours. I had seen nobody. Nothing but a pair of Marsh Harriers quartering the reedbed for company. I was walking slowly on a floating mass of vegetation. Stepping forward the whole ground around me moved for a radius of several metres. It was like walking on thick pale green custard. If I stood for a while I slowly sank until the cold reminder of my boots filling with water prompted me to move. The thought suddenly occurred to me that if this meniscus of vegetation broke I should slip without a trace beneath the bog only for my remains to be discovered in the next millennium clutching camera and rechristened ‘Canon man’

All dark thoughts disappeared under a cloak of excitement, and relief, when I looked down to see the smallest twist of flowers struggling for attention amid a thatch of rushes. The most iconic of Norfolk’s orchids was reaching skyward, fingers outstretched, at my feet. Along with Bittern, Swallowtail, Norfolk Hawker and Crane; the Fen Orchid has to be listed within the county’s ‘big five’. As rare as it is beautiful this small delicate gem is only now found in dune slacks around Kenfig in South Wales as well as Norfolk.

Thank you to David for his more than perfect directions.