Saturday 22nd April 2017

It would be nice if every week when the weekend come round, we have wall to wall sunshine to enable orchids to be photographed in the best light. We can't always have that of course, and we also need rain in order for plants to grow, but rain at weekends can be annoying. In the end, if its cloudy, or rains, we just have to deal with it. I might be grumpy about it, but then, it might clear up later.

As expected, it was dull and dreary when we got up, I scour the horizon to the north east to see if there was hint of sunshine, but no. I check online for the weather for here, the Medway Towns and Canterbury; and although there was some hints that it brighten up later, nothing was certain. It was also the 20th Records Store Day, and although I would like to have gone to the place in Folkestone, it goes against what I think it should be ablut, much less limited editions meaning more people have the chance of getting what they want, not just chancers getting them and putting them straight on e bay. Jools also had a course in Folkestone, she could have dropped me off, I was tempted, but in the end, I decide not to go, and potter around at home.

There is the shopping to be done, and so I say I'll go. We make a list and I get in the car for the short drive to Whitfield. I zoom round getting what we need, and apart from a diversion to the beer section, I get all that was on the list and go to pay. JUst two bags of shopping, but not all of it healthy, but then looking at us, you'd expect nothing less I suppose.

I return home, put the shopping away and Jools makes coffee, puts the croissants in the oven. I check the weather every ten minutes, there seems to be sunny spells developing after three in the afternoon. I am fixed on that.

Jools leaves at half ten, so I check work mails and find I have documents to check. I power up the laptop, do the review and find mistakes on all three. So I send them back asking for them to be redone. I get a call. There's nothing wrong with those boss, I'm told.

So, I explain that there is, and thankfully I was right, all will be redone and sent back again. And so the morning and early afternoon passes.

Much to my shock, the sun comes out at about half one, and Jools is not back with the car. I fret about missing the light as the minutes tick by. She arrives home at half two, I have packed the camera bag, put my shoes on and am almost ready to sprint out to the car to snatch the keys out of her hand. I don't, but explain I'm going straight out, did she want to come? No, fine.

Bye.

The plan was to go to Samphire Hoe to check on two new colonies of Early Spiders I had been told about. A family fishing give me looks as I walk by, but on I walk, almost out of sight, then at the end of the path, in the lea of the cliff, among the long grass, I see the first spike. It is very tall, so it shows over the surrounding vegetation, but looking unlike any other ESO I have seen.

Nearby, I find another growing on a chalk boulder, out of apparently no soil at all, but it seemed happy enough. Orchids do grow in the most amazing places sometimes.

I walk back and along the usual track, seeing if there were any variations on show, I don't see anything other than older spikes losing their colour after pollination. I snap a couple then move on. I count 23 open spikes, I'm sure I missed some, and there was the other colony I did not bother to find. Anyway, more than enough I think.

So I walk back to the car, with a pair of Peregrine Falcons wheeling above me, calling loud, in what I guess is some kind of mating ritual. I see one wheeling in tight circles chased by the other, then they are gone, away to the west, still calling loudly.

On the radio, the day's football matches are drawing to an end, but City have already played. So I can listen with detached interest. From the Hoe I drive to north of Dover to check on the colony of Man Orchids. Always good to visit here, a site not many people know about, and a smattering of a good 100 or so spikes. But the dry winter isn't doing the orchids that much good, and the rosettes are a yellow colour rather than green. But a couple are putting up spikes, one spike even beginning to open. It won't be long.

I go home, the good light is fading as it clouds over again. Back home there is the FA Cup Semi Final to watch, Chelski v Spurs; a good game, and worth watching with a beer as the two teams actually go for it. Spurs were the better team, but Chelsea have class and win 4-2, Spurs almost here, but not quite. Surs doing a Spurs, really.

As Saturday Live burbles, with Roy Hudd as the star guest, and what a joy he is, I make dinner; insalata caprese, which is just perfect at the end of a relaxing day, and one which I achieved quite a lot.