Jurassic Coast

Earlier this month I took a hike to the south coast with some guests for a tour in Dorset. A series of nature walks gave us some great Nightjar views, a Fox with cubs, some rare orchids, a family of Polecats put on a fatal performance; we had some wonderful seabirds and mammals and that elusive reptile the Sand Lizard gave us a few sightings. A few photos follow. Sadly I shan’t be running this tour next year but it will make an appearance in the future I’m sure.

Dartford Warbler

Garden Warbler

Marbled White

Musk Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid

Rosel’s Bush Cricket

Wall Lizard

Great Green Bush Cricket

Stonechat

Black Darter

Bog Ashphodel

Common Tern

Keeled Skimmer

Rose Chafer

Sundew

Wolf Spider

Brown Long eared Bat

Harlequin Ladybird

Ruddy Darter

Small Red Damselfly

Lonely and Single

The single spike of Lesser Butterfly Orchid in the whole of Norfolk was in flower the other day. Or at least I don’t know of any others. It looked particularly lonely amid the Southern Marsh, Fragrant Orchids and the odd Marsh Helleborine. Lonely but beautiful.

Small packages and good things

A visit to North Lancashire, the red rose county, saw us looking at some unimaginably beautiful orchids. Among them were Lady’s Slippers. Good things come in small packages.

Wales

A family break in Wales over the bank holiday weekend; but you take your camera and bins’ with you, don’t you?

White Bluebells

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

Chough

Early Purple Orchid

Raven

Red Kite

Red Kite

 

Pyramids, Frogs, Lizards, Bees and Marshes

A day of orchids … and little else but beautiful, beautiful orchids.

 

Man Alive!

Monday saw us out about Norfolk on the ‘Photographing Orchids’ day. Without a doubt the overwhelming highlight were several spikes of Man Orchid; more pristine than I have ever seen them before, and incredibly rare in Norfolk.

One of the best sources of information on Norfolk’s Orchids is available as a free pdf download from the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalist’s Society.

Spiralis

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Delicate and small we eventually found them. The grass had been mown late; far too late. The orchids had probably been topped. However, we searched anyway and Bob managed to find a couple of spikes that were so small they’d escaped the blades.

Autumn Ladies Tresses are so called because of their resemblance to plaits of hair. This is also reflected within the Latin name of Spiranthes spiralis. I’m not sure what the passing builders thought of me lying flat out on the ground photographing them but it sparked enough interest for them to ask a few questions about what they were.

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Orchid fest

It was once described to me as the Laura Ashley of Orchids.

Squelching along the footpath up the common the other week we were among the best display of Marsh Hellebores I have seen. This year is a good year for Orchids.

Snails Pace

It is said that the Bee Orchid mimics a now extinct bee to assist in its fertilisation. Things now seem to be done a lot slower!

 

A Canvas of Colour

It’s good to go somewhere new. When that place is so close to where you live and holds a true spectacle it is a surprise.

I was taken for a walk by my friend Tony last week to a little known common. I was astounded.

The carpet of Orchids that greeted us was of the like I have never experienced before. We had difficulty finding a clear space to tread.

Large spikes of flowers were beacons of light; the Southern Marsh, Leopard Marsh, Common Spotted and hybrid Orchids coating the common made for a blaze of colour that easily outshone any Cézanne landscape. A truly beautiful place.