Monday 3 May 2010

Monday 3rd.May 2010

Weatherwise , yesterday and this morning were horrible . The only consolation was that , at last , I have managed to sort out the photographs of the 'dancing and mating Adders' , separating the good from the bad and deleting anything that was blurred . The end result , approximately 250 shots that I just can't delete , even having deleted about 150 already . No doubt , on a bad weather day , I will prune them further , but it will take some discipline to arrive at the final album .
After leaving fellow enthusiast Keith at the Orchid Bank on Saturday afternoon , he made his way in the opposite direction to me . On his way , he noticed some seed heads amongst the leaf litter and fresh vegetation , and thought that they might be some last year's Bird's Nest Orchid seed heads . He sent me an email attaching a shot of the heads , and a tree that was close by , and they looked very promising .
I headed off after lunch to see if I could follow Keith's direction and find them . I missed the tree alongside the path that Keith had photographed and 'needle in a haystack' was definitely in the frame after two heavy showers gave me a good soaking . Retracing my steps , I then found the tree , and shortly afterwards , the seed heads . Two groups of 7 and 3 , and looking really promising . To find them flowering this year will be the ultimate proof , and another colony of Bird's Nest Orchids at High Elms will be great news , thanks to Keith's eagle eye .
Heading back to Burnt Gorse , another shower got me , but this was followed by a large patch of blue sky . Not a single butterfly was seen on Burnt Gorse , but I did get a very pleasant half hour at a five bar gate , overlooking the Cudham Valley . In the distance , a Common Buzzard soared to evade the local Corvids and I hoped they might push it my way , but they didn't . In the hedgerows , Common Whitethroat , Blackcap , Chaffinch and Wren were singing in the now warmer sunshine . The woods above Burnt Gorse were sheltering me from the wind , and it was really pleasant . Low over the valley in front of me , a small flock of Swallows were hawking insects , and at the top of the slope 3/4 Swifts were doing the same higher up . The sunshine even encouraged a Skylark to lift and sing . Paradise lasted for about 20 minutes , before the next hail shower fell from the now dark grey sky . Needless to say , no butterflies were seen on the way back to the car , drawing a blank for the whole visit . And for once , also a blank on any photographs .
Two days working now , up on the Greensand Ridge .

4 comments:

ShySongbird said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it difficult to delete photos :)

Well done on tracking the Bird's Nest Orchids down, I look forward to seeing them in flower later on.

Hail showers here too and very cold!

Warren Baker said...

I always find it hard to delete my photo's greenie, but i'd need a new computer to store all of them.

Today and yesterday were just crap -weatherwise. I blame the volcanic ash :-)

Phil said...

Very evocative post Greenie, I was almost there with you. Many thanks for your help with my 'fungus problem' today.............!

Ken. said...

Hi Greenie.
No Butterflies at Dunge today either.
Strange not seeing any pictures on your blog!