Sunday, 30 June 2019

A Trip to the Bog !





In this case, a trip to another new site for me Hothfield Heathlands, it's here that you can find four of Kent's last remaining lowland valley bogs, together with some of the specialised plants associated with this type of habitat. I didn't explore the heaths on this visit, a good excuse to return latter.


Location of the Main Bog
I was particularly interested in the Heath Spotted Orchid that thrives in the damp acid soils of the bog, once we had found the main bog it wasn't hard to find the Heath Spotted Orchids.
They look very similar to Common Spotted Orchids, The lip of the Heath Spotted-orchid is also more rounded and without the longer central tooth found on the Common Spotted-orchid. the flowers appeared to be paler, the lip is pale pink/white, being marked with darker pink fine dots and dashed lines,

Here's a comparison with a Common Spotted Orchid found a few weeks ago at Shorne.



            Common Spotted Orchid                                             Heath Spotted Orchid

There seemed to be quite a few variations but all with dots and dashes, many were close to the boardwalk so some close views were easily obtained.



                                           Heath Spotted-orchid - Dactylorhiza maculata

There were a few other bog plants to be found here, I do not have a great knowledge on plants but these were relatively easy to pick out.

Round leaf Sundew
The Boardwalk through the Main Bog at Hothfield
                    
                                                                       Bog Asphodel

Bog Pimpernel
Cotton Grass
On some of the smaller pools I could see a number of Dragonflies, I was hoping to see the Keeled Skimmers known to reside here, no males on view but at least three female Keeled Skimmers were darting around the pools, no chance of a photo, much too quick for my camera.

This female Emperor Dragonfly ovipositing was more accommodating.

Emperor Dragonfly
The notice board also claimed that Minotaur Beetles and Tiger Beetles reside here, but I didn't see any on this visit, I may return at a latter date to try and see the Keeled Skimmers and maybe a Beetle or two.

We did come across the ubiquitous herd of Konik ponies used by wildlife trusts to tackle the vegetation in those hard to reach places.


Konik Ponies at Hothfield
 Back to the Orchids , these Heath Spotted Orchids the main reason for my visit today did not disappoint in spite of there close resemblance to the Common Spotted. This Orchid another new species for both my life list and yearly list



Orchid Life List                                          2019 Orchid List

 Common Spotted Orchid                        Green Winged Orchid
 Early Purple Orchid                                Early Purple Orchid
Common Twayblade.                               Lady Orchid
Greater Butterfly Orchid                          Early Spider Orchid
 Lady Orchid                                            Fly Orchid
Pyramidal Orchid                                     Common Twayblade
 Bee Orchid                                              Man Orchid
Fragrant Orchid                                        Monkey Orchid
White Helleborine                                    White Helleborine
Southern Marsh Orchid                            Common Fragrant Orchid
Green Winged Orchid                               Bee Orchid
Early Spider Orchid                                  Southern Marsh Orchid
Fly Orchid                                                 Common Spotted Orchid
Man Orchid                                               Pyramidal Orchid
Monkey Orchid                                         Lizard Orchid
Birds Nest Orchid                                     Birds Nest Orchid
Lizard Orchid                                            Musk Orchid
Musk Orchid                                             Greater Butterfly Orchid
Heath Spotted Orchid                                Heath Spotted Orchid

Monday, 24 June 2019

West Blean Fritillaries !


I've had this trip marked on the calendar since last year, West & East Blean the place to go to see Heath Fritillaries, a new Butterfly species for me to see.

Sightings have been appearing over the last few days, it was now or never.
I decided to visit the West Blean Woodland site, I didn't realise what a vast site it was, follow the 'Black way-marked trail' other observers had said,  this was nearly a six mile round trip.

I parked up in the West Blean RSPB car park, found the Map of the woods and the start of the trail, at least the sun was shining, just a matter of finding the colonies in this vast woodland.

After walking for some time along the trail, the only Butterfly I had seen was a Speckled wood, paths were criss- crossing everywhere,  I wasn't even sure if I was still on the right trail, another half hour passed still no sign, I was beginning to think I'd had a wasted journey, I could see a sunny clearing up ahead and I decided that I would start the return journey after that point.

A sunny clearing of low Bracken and scattered bramble flowers, a Butterfly caught my eye, a closer look and I could see the typical Fritillary type upper wing patterning. Then another, and another, not sure if I had stumbled into the right area or not, but there seemed to be Fritillaries all around me. so I guess it was.











I spent some time in the end, photographing and watching these lovely Butterflies, there seemed to be a bit of a mating frenzy going on. the Butterflies themselves were I would say of medium size, about the size of a Gatekeeper Butterfly, they seemed to like this particular area, not moving far from it.
I was glad I made the effort now, a new site investigated, a new Butterfly seen, just a matter of retracing my steps and finding the car park.







Saturday, 22 June 2019

Orchid Field trip - Sandwich Bay & Beyond.

 When it comes to wildlife watching,  I'm a bit of a loner, like to fully immerse myself in the moment and escape the concrete jungle and all that goes with it, this works well with Birds, Butterflies, Bees and Dragonflies.

  Orchids are whole different matter, people are very secretive about their locations with good reason I suppose. Its quite easy to find some of the more common species like Common Spotted Orchid, Pyramidal, even a  Bee Orchid usally turns up eventually. The other scarcer native Orchids are a different matter unless you know where to look.

I decided to join a  group of Orchid enthusiasts in the hope that I could learn more and hopefully see some of the scarcer Orchids I know nothing about, I find myself becoming slightly obsessed with finding these now, with this in mind I joined a small group visiting Sandwich Bay with a very knowledgeable leader, main objective was to see the Lizard Orchids, and it's no secret that they thrive here near the golf courses.

We parked up at the Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory, and made our way across the dunes towards the golf course that runs alongside the beach here. Our leader very nonchalantly pointed out some Orchids  growing in the long grass, Southern Marsh Orchids in perfect condition, a nice sighting to start the day.

Southern Marsh Orchid

Closer to the beach we started running into the huge numbers of Lizard Orchids, a new sighting for me, not hard to find, they are quite large and distinctive in shape, the individual flowers are         suppose to represent the rear half of a lizard, disappearing into a hole, they are also said to have the scent of a goat, they do.



   



Lizard Orchid
Pyramidal Orchids were popping up everywhere along the grassy verges of the road, giving a lovely splash of colour .
     


Pyramidal Orchid with a Small Skipper
Before we started to head back, a couple of Bee Orchids were pointed out, a good start to the morning with four Orchids seen and the promise of more to be seen at a few other sites.

Bee Orchid
The group were heading over to Park Gate Down another good Orchid site, quite well known so I'm not giving anything away.

Once again our leader threw into the conversation asking if anyone would like to see the Birds Nest Orchid, which we could stop off and see on the way to Park Gate Down. This was one of those Orchids I would never find in a lifetimes search. I was quite excited to see this one, can't give the location but it was inside a very dark Beech wood with hardly any sunlight filtering through the canopy.
Gets it s name from its root system resembling a birds nest, no chlorophyll in this Orchid at all, gets its nourishment from dead and decaying humus usally under Beech trees.





A very insignificant Orchid in some respects, no more than  four or five inches tall, quite hard to spot against the leaf litter under the trees, an Orchid which I doubt I would have spotted without help.

On to Parkgate Down, I had visited here several weeks ago to see the Monkey Orchids most of which were now fading away,  we did find this  one Monkey Orchid still looking good with a few visible monkeys still..

Monkey Orchid.
As we headed through the grassy banks of the reserve heading for another particularly scarce Orchid that had been found on this site, we passed many Common Spotted Orchids, Pyramidal and Common Fragrant Orchids of many different shades.
Common Spotted Orchid
Common Spotted Orchid




Common Chalk Fragrant Orchid

The Musk Orchid another extremely difficult Orchid to see, just a shade or to lighter than the grass it was growing in, three very small Musk Orchids, how they were found I do not know.






Still more Orchids were revealed, A Fly Orchid, way past its best with just one remaining flower to be seen.

Fly Orchid.
And finally to finish of the days viewing, one final Orchid the Greater Butterfly Orchid.

Greater Butterfly Orchid.

What a mornings viewing, that was , eleven Orchid species seen, with three new species for my tally.
Not sure if I will see any more as the seasons end draws near.



Orchid Life List                                          2019 Orchid List

 Common Spotted Orchid                        Green Winged Orchid
 Early Purple Orchid                                Early Purple Orchid
Common Twayblade.                               Lady Orchid
Greater Butterfly Orchid                          Early Spider Orchid
 Lady Orchid                                            Fly Orchid
Pyramidal Orchid                                     Common Twayblade
 Bee Orchid                                              Man Orchid
Fragrant Orchid                                        Monkey Orchid
White Helleborine                                    White Helleborine
Southern Marsh Orchid                            Common Fragrant Orchid
Green Winged Orchid                               Bee Orchid
Early Spider Orchid                                  Southern Marsh Orchid
Fly Orchid                                                 Common Spotted Orchid
Man Orchid                                               Pyramidal Orchid
Monkey Orchid                                         Lizard Orchid
Birds Nest Orchid                                     Birds Nest Orchid
Lizard Orchid                                            Musk Orchid
Musk Orchid                                              Greater Butterfly Orchid