Saturday 3rd June 2017

After nearly nine hours sleep, a change came over me. Yes, no longer was I the moody grump of the previous night, but I was up and about, bouncing and ready to get out and about, get some sunshine on me, and take some pictures.

We woke up with cats everywhere; well, Molly asleep at my feet, Mulder on Jools' pillow and Scully somewhere in the back of the wardrobe. Once feet touch carpet, it is apparently feeding time, so whoever is first up has to sort the mogs out first, then make coffee. As the forecast: and you might notice this is a feature of most weekend posts, this is beacuse some orchids have to be snapped in sunshine or appear too violet, so when the sun shines, we snappers of orchids, snap.

As most weeks, there is shopping to be done, but being summer, which it really is now, less of meat and vegetables, more fruit and lighter food. I volunteer to go to Tesco, while Jools stays home to sort out washing and make the beds.

I follow a French driver out of the village, he is very timid, braking at every corner to 30mph, or 50kmh if you want it in decimal. Only when he turned onto the Deal road, he turned onto the wrong side of the road, and it looked hairy when there was a van heading straight for him, but he got over just in time. And then at the roundabout, in the wrong lane, no indicators (but then that describes most locals too) and onto the A2.

Tesco is pretty much the same every week, something to be endured, especially when they move entire aisles, but I go round, twice and I think I have most of what we need, including croissants for breakfast. It is less painless with a hand scanner, meaning no waiting in line at the till, and so a quick escape.

Back home, put the shopping away, make coffee and warm the croissants and wolf them down, as outside the sun is shining, and there is barely a breath of wind.

I guess if I were retired, I could spend all day, every day, orchid hunting. That would be great, but with work, travel and holidays, I do the best I can, and snap what there is to snap when I can, visiting sites as they reach their peak so to see as many species as possible. We did much last week, so this weekend it was different sites, different orchids, but always, great fun and interesting.

First up was the other Late Spider site I know, there are more but harder to get to i understand, anyway, the drive to this one is good, either up and over the downs or along the narrow winding road at their feet until at a certain place there is a lay by, or sorts, big enough for one car. Over the stile and into the field, and there should be orchids on the southern facing slope. Only this year it has been so dry, some species have fared well while other have struggled. Early Spier and Purple, Bee and Late Spider seem to have struggled, and so it was with some disappointment to see just three spikes on the slope, and in one of those the spike was already over for the year.

There was a plant with three flowers, and one more with just a single. And the single seemed drab, maybe it was the end of its time having been pollinated and so was fading. I took a couple of shots without looking too closely, paying more attention to the triple.

It wasn't until I got home and checked the images, I found that the single was a variant without markings, and was plain dark reddy brown. I did get a couple of useable shots however. I suppose this goes to show we should always check anything we see that differs from the norm. Anyway, not sure how rare this is, but still was thrilling to see the shot later and realise is unusualness.

Although the site and display was disappointing, I got shots, and I am sure that next year, weather and rainfall willing, it will be better.

From there it was a drive down narrow twisty lanes to Park Gate to look for Musk in flower. Getting there was easy, finding them, even if you know what you are looking for can be tricky, as they are so tiny. At most they are 5 to 6cm high, often dwarfed by surround vegetation, so it is luck whether they can be found.

On the way there was the Monkey to check, a second wave has opened after the rain towards the end of May, so some still worth seeing, but I didn't photograph any. Elsewhere there were many Fragrants out, one catching my eye as it was different shape from others, and the flowers had different lip shaped. The only other orchid nearby is the Common Spotted, could it be a hybrid? Not sure, but was Fragrant coloured with the shape and spike density that of a CSO; so who knows. They can hybridise, and I have seen pictures of one with the colourisation of a CSO, but I guess in theory, the other parent plant could be the dominant one?

I snap it anyway.

Further on, I come to the area where the Musk should be, and being the first week in May, is right when they should be seen. I stand and look, move on a few feet and look some more. I find myself talking to the orchids: I know you're there, you should be out, I just need to see you.

After ten minutes I see a spike, and another nearby is clearly partially open. So I get my shots of it, and the nearby still to open spikes.

I was happy that my orchid eyes were still working. We go to look for some var. alba Fragrant and CSO and find both, as well as the last of the Fly clinging on, but this will be the last of them. And elsewhere, certainly no Greater Butterfly were found. Oh well, always next year.

And that was it for the morning, time to go home as the clock was ticking towards lunchtime, and we were hungry so back home for Scotch Eggs and curry ketchup for me, and then the sorting through the photos, editing, posting and writing blogs. Yes, its all go here!

Somehow the afternoon slides by, we have strawberries and cream sitting outside in the sunshine which should have been over by then, but as is sometimes the way, lasts all day.

There is music to listen to on the radio, or via the i player at least. That evening brought the (latest) finale of the football season; the Champion's League final. It was free to air on TV, only as it turned out, you had to re-tune the TV to find the new channel, and I had no idea on how to do that. Half an hour later, I give up and end up watching the feed on Youtube as the browser on the TV was out of date and kept freezing.

Real cruise to beat Juve 4-1, but there is some play-acting during the game, which left a sour taste in the mouth, so much so I give up on the game with 5 minutes to go. Just enough time to go outside for half an hour to watch bats hunting, wheeling and circling above my head as I walked to the shelter. The sun had set, and the three-quarter moon shone bright through a thin veil of cloud, with nearby Venus nearly as bright.

Summer nights!