Counting tresses

It's good to see autumn lady's-tresses appearing on the village lawns. In one garden I counted 39 spikes last year, and there are 44 this year - a testament to good grass management (i.e. none).
The largest number of spikes are on Phyllis's lawn - she was amenable to waiting for some pyramidal orchids to seed before cutting her grass, but I feel that she was not so pleased when I pointed out the 150 or so new spikes that have appeared.
Over in the Isle of Wight, Rambling Rob reckons that they spiral either left-to-right and right-to-left, but although there are a few here that had little spiral, most keep strictly to the anti-clockwise trend.

Evening primrose in the evening

It's getting towards that time when birds reemerge from their summer activities, leading to wistful staring out to sea in the hope of something interesting. At least there are birds on the scrapes, even though their plumage poses a few challenges.

Green sandpiper (not too difficult)

Crow (or a juvenile rook?)

Pheasant (or chicken, or veloceraptor?)

And how often do you see a kestrel and a common sandpiper on the same wall?
And finally....two more links:
marvellous shots of a long-eared owl at Elmley by Steve Ray, and
a reminder of the Google Earth link showing this year's migration of ospreys from Loch Garten.