There is something wonderful about waking up at six on the first day of a three day weekend, with a mind full of the possibilities of what it may bring. So, what to do with our time?
Well, in a word: orchids. Despite spring having arrived now, and it being nice and warm, nature is still weeks behind and maybe in some cases will not catch up. Anyway, lets head down to Samphire Hoe to check on the Early Spider Orchids. So, after a much needed coffee we head out and blast up the A20 to the turn off and go through the cliff tunnel.
We park up and head off down the track beside the railway, but still there is little sign of the tiny orchids. By the time they arrive they will be late early orchids!
So, we head off up the Elham Valley to Park Gate down to look for early purples. We remembered the way, and so we turned off down the narrow lane and also remembered which way to go at the fork of the road. we parked off in the bottom of the valley, got all the camera gear out and set off into the meadow to look for the orchids.
Turns out it is early this year for early purples; but after a while we saw a few spikes showing, and in a couple of sheltered spots, there were a couple coming into bloom. we got down on our bellies to get the shots, happy with getting something of our quarry.
By this time it was ten, so we headed back down the valley to Elham where we had spotted a fine looking cafe with a sign offering fine breakfasts. So, we looked at the wares on offer and decided on a full English, and sat down to watch village life pass us by the other side of the window. The breakfast came and was very fine indeed, and so, fully laden with eggs, sausages and bacon we headed back home.
Jools wanted to do some work in the garden, so I called my friend Gary to see if he wanted to head out to take some snaps of birds. He said yes.
so I went to pick him up and we set off for the nature reserve at Stodmarsh near Canterbury hoping to see a tree creeper or two. First we went to the reed hide to see if we could see any Great Crested Grebes, as they were nesting. Sadly, they were way over the other side of the lake, so we got just distant views.
We moved on to look for the tree creepers; now these are nesting in a dead tree beside a path, and return with food every 20 minutes so we did not have long to wait to get shots of these wonderful little birds. I had some focusing issues with my camera, but this is due to me altering the settings without knowing the result. So, the camera would not refocus after taking a shot. Thus many shots, which would have been stunning, would have ben stunning. Still, I got shots of the two creepers coming in and out of the nesting hole, which is good enough for me, but not good enough for Mr 1D who we bumped into, and he has just bought another new camera, but still does not understand the basic, like the syncing of flash speeds, which is typical of the no talent ass monkey.
Anyway, satisfied with what we had got, we headed home after a very fine day.
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