Tuesday 6th May 2014

Monday.

Bank Holiday Monday.

Dateline: St Maggies, 07:00. Weather: sunny and still.

There are a couple major Kentish orchid sites I have yet to visit. Yes, I know that is hard to believe. I believe Jools finds it harder to believe. But still, there is one meadow, in mid-Kent which is home to thousands, maybe tens of thousands of Green Winged orchids. We almost went on Sunday, but I baulked when I looked on the map to see it so far, almost 45 miles. But, Jools said it would be nice to go there early doors on Monday. So, there we were heading out of the door at half seven, sat nav programmed and all camera batteries charged and ready to do battle with the orchid hordes.

so, off down Jubilee Way, along Town Wall Street playing roulette with the Turkish lorry drivers. Who knows which exit they will choose at the roundabout???

And on up Shakespeare Cliff, to Folkestone, Ashford and into the realm of the orchid.

I try to explain those who doubt the lure of the orchid that your average orchid is picky. I mean you might think that field is exactly the same as the one next door, but one field will be totally without a spike whilst the one next door will have thousands. Or one dune might look the same as another, but all will be crowded in the lea of one dune, whilst dozens of others will be bare.



So we headed down The North Downs and onto the plain below, and there on one side of the road I saw purple. Lots of purple. We had found the orchids.....



We found the small car park, we broke out the gear. Lots of cameras. And set off through the sheep. Yes, sheep.Along the side of the field to the gate and beyond was the meadow. Full of orchids. Thing is when you find one or two orchids you know what to shoot, you see thousands, where do you start? I walked round the outside, looking at angles trying to get as many in the background as possible. In the end I just shot ant random, selecting the spikes i liked the colours of and were easily accessible to shoot.



So, I rattle off a few hundred shots and get to the point as to wondering what I could do different. In the end we are satisfied that we have captured the field, and head back towards dover, stopping off in a couple of very nice towns so I could snap the churches and record a couple of shots for GWUK.



We stop off at the services in Folkestone and grab brunch at a Subway. We felt dirty, but the rolls are pretty good and we leave full up.

Back home I look at my pictures then get the mower out and try to tame the lawn. Jools trims the edges, and together we get the job done. I celebrate the shawn lawn with a cuppa rather than a beer, and we sit in the warm sunshine taking in the majesty of our work.

Quite where the weekend went, a weekend 50% longer than the average, but there you go. Time to put the badger food out and head up the stairs. Just enough time to listen to Liverpool throw a 3 goal lead against Palace and so lose the title. Still, got to laugh.