Friday 27 May 2011

Early lates

A quick check over the downs above Folkestone, just in case......... and sure enough the Late Spider Orchids are early this year.
Every bloom has its own anthropomorphic character. This one is a bride, don't you think?
Near the crop of five LSOs are half-a-dozen Man Orchids.
During the week I called in to Park Gate Down to remind myself of the differences between Military and Monkey Orchids. I was immediately struck by the crowded form of Monkeys - a real mish-mash in contrast to the Military.
A couple of geezers with posh cameras were there - good company and cracking photographic skills from Jamie and Martin. I despair.
A phone call alerted me to a young kestrel (I assume) on a neighbour's roof. Another mish-mash!

The first morning of the weekend was supposed to be a lie-in, but a calling cuckoo put paid to that. It was carving out a territory around the garden - a very welcome visitor but not conducive to sleep.

7 comments:

Rob said...

Steve, I can see the bride, but I'm struggling with the five London Symphony Orchestras.

No monkey or spider orchids on the IoW according to the local flora.

Kingsdowner said...

Nice one Rob! That had me scratching my head for a while.

Warren Baker said...

Cuckoo's wont be calling for much longer Steve :-)

Wow! Looks like you have one of the favoured sites on which I can comment :-)

Greenie said...

Steve ,
Late Spider Orchids , and I have yet to find my first Bee Orchid .
As for your 'bride' question , if I knew what anthropomorphic meant , I would answer it .
Enjoy the rain tomorrow .

Duncan said...

Thanks for the kick that got me up the hill behind Folkestone on a windy Sunday afternoon.

I found Spotted and Fragrant Orchids on their way into flower, but no luck with the LSOs. Perhaps Crete Road West / Caesar's Camp was the wrong place to be looking?

Kingsdowner said...

Hi Duncan,
It's a big hillside!
I looked again yesterday and it seems that the cattle have browsed some LSO spikes, while another has been crushed (by a photographer?) leaving only three that I could see.
Needles in haystacks comes to mind!

Duncan said...

That would make sense. I was a little surprised to see the cattle right where the richest orchid fields were a summer or two back - and the orchids I did find looked to be on slopes too steep for them.

Still, we're a little short of midsummmer yet, so I ought to have more chances once the cattle are moved on.