And once again, the weather have been very favourable, and we have been able to get out and do stuff. In this case 'stuff' means chasing orchids, which seems to be my new passion. I have a friend who gives me locations, we find out where they are via the web, and the sat nav takes us there. and it gets us to new and out of the way places, down lanes that are more pot holes than roads, and around every corner we might come face to face with a fox or maybe another splendid vista opening out.
Hunting out these fabulous orchids means getting out of the car and walking through woods, which is, of course, great exercise, and there is always the temptation to do more and more, even if you are dog tired.
Saturday, we headed out to a bank near the village of Petham. When I say a bank, it is really the side of a hill, managed by the Kent Conservation Trust, a managed habitat, home to much wildlife and a few orchids. In particular, the Fly Orchid. My friend Mark has snapped them, and they looked unusual enough to warrant chasing them down.
We parked at the bottom of the hill and walked up the road to the entrance to the wood: and in we went. Now, finding the first example of a species is difficult because you don't know how big the orchid is, what is its location, chosen habitat, so a lot of slow walking is needed. We headed through the wood, slowly heading upwards, past a clearing which is now a fine meadow. And into the wood again. I spot some Twayblades, a lot in fact, and then, a plant that looks like grass, but hanging from it is a tiny flash a burgundy. Our prey.
In the end we find maybe a dozen examples, most with a single head, but one double. We get down on the ground to get our shots. We pass many people who walked right past them, despite in the wood just to see the Flies. We pass down our knowledge and they seem happy enough.
I head to the wood the other side of the road to view the collection of Lady Orchids, and get shots just because they were there. I have a bucket full of such shots, but they are so stunning when fully open. Why not?
It was now well past opening time, so we head back over Stone street to a pub I had seen a signpost for. We sit in the beer garden and order grilled chicken Ceasar salad and I wash mine down with a pint of dark mild, which was very good.
The plan was to head to another site to see orchids, but the warmth meant we were a little jaded. So we decide to visit a church we had seen. Turned out to be one I had visited in the winter but found closed because the key had gone missing. The key was now available and so I was able to go inside and see its delights. And wow!
In the late 18th century it had been converted into a non-conformist church, and never turned back when reverted to Anglican. This makes St Mary's at Stelling unique in Kent. I took it from all angles, and put a fiver in the collection tin as we took a jar of quince jelly which was for sale.
And so we made our way by ever widening roads back to Folkestone and then to home. We sat on the patio with a beer or cider in our hands, as the afternoon sun brought warmth to our back garden and to us. At our feet various cats came to say hello and enquire when we might be feeding them.
We walk along to the glade just to see if there were any late afternoon butterflies around, and we were rewarded with a single Brown Argus, which I got two series of shots. A worthwhile walk for sure.
We dine on a Chinese takeaway, and watch as the sun sets on a glorious Kent spring day, filled as it was with orchids.
No comments:
Post a Comment