Monday 21st April 2014

Saturday.

And the sun shone on. And on. Kind of.

At the least the forecast promised sunshine, though in reality we got a lot of cloud mixed in. At times, mostly cloud, but whatever.

And on the list of things to do today was to revisit another of the orchid sites to check on the progress of the early orchids.



So, after breakfast we headed out along the Alkham Valley to Folkestone, and then along the motorway a bit before turning up the Elham Valley. We know the way now. And when we get there we find four other people surveying the orchids. Sadly, at first glance we no orchids, but as our eyes get used to the scene we see a few stunted early purples scattering the down.



Although I have nothing against Early purples, our, or rather MY aim, was to check on the later orchid species. And there was much evidence of a multitude of spikes all over that in about a month time this will be orchid heaven. But for now, a few stunted Early Purples. we search for Flys, but all I found was the rosette for the solitary Lady.



The sunshine is intermittent at best, and with the small orchids all we could fine, we decide to head off. Or rather I decide we should go back to see the Early Spiders. On the way we go to the garden centre in Folkestone for some seeds and other plants for the garden, and then onto the Hoe. I will not mention many other orchid sites, but there is little point in pretending I do not go to Samphire Hoe for the Early Spiders.



I wanted to try my new lens out, and also see how much they had come on in the last two weeks. I made my way up the track, and found a fine display of orchids. I sat down to wait for Jools to catch up, but watch as a family group of eight people walk off the path and through the largest group of orchids, flattening them. I was horrified. So, I pointed out what they had done, showed them some other Early Spiders, and despite being locals did not know that the orchids even grew there. And the people who run the site posted no warnings, just a tiny 'please keep to the path' sign.

It being a bright sunny day, people were arriving to use the site as a park, rather than a nature reserve, and no one seemed to care, not even the warden when I told him. Its an open space he said. I decided to leave as i could not bear to see more orchids flattened. The really annoying thing is that the warden told me off for laying dwon to photograph the orchid last week. I won't go back this year.

Back home we have lunch, and then seem to let the rest of the day slip by. I listen to the radio, edit some pictures and the usual stuff. And in this way the afternoon slips by. Jools went out to get a Chinese for dinner in the evening, which I feel is far better than me cooking!