Saturday 2nd June 2018

The itching continues. Or.

All that scratching was making me itch.

In fact, although the bites on my back look angry and red, they don't itch, though they might get infected, I suppose. The bites I have received since coming home itch more than the Danish ones. I know I'm not imagining this as Jools has been bitten too. Maybe it's mozzies trapped in my clothing or suitcase?

But I dose myself up on drugs and creams before going to bed, so sleep well enough.

But when the hot water starts up at half six, and the cats realise that's when we are going to get up, we do get up. Though Scully had been sitting on me, meowing, since five hoping that i would get up. No chance.

So we get up and have coffee, and we spit up the tasks; I do the shopping and Jools will do everything else. I will also leave early to go Folkestone to look at the Late Spiders, as there will likely be no one else about at that time.

Which was indeed the case. I park on the side of the lane, in a passing place. I hate doing it, but there is nowhere else to park within a ten minute walk. But I tell myself that I won't we long.

I walk to the bank and find the orchids doing really well behind the electric fence, there are well over a dozen spikes, no trampled ground, and most of the orchids had multiple flowers. I take snaps from behind the fence, I had brought the big boy lens to get close-ish shots, and that worked well. Even the Man Orchids were untrampled, seems that most people had kept the right side of the fence and this colony will last.

A short drive away is another colony I had been told about, very hush hush. At least parking was easier there, and little passing traffic down a side lane, and sure enough on a grassy bank there was five spikes, just starting to go over, by unfenced and mostly unknown.

I get down to get shots, and marvel at their diversity, flowers on each spike different; shape, colour and markings.

Wow, what a season this is turning out to be.

I drive back to DOver and am at Tesco by five past eight, I rush round getting the little stuff we need, and am in the car driving back by half eight, already with half a day's orchiding done!

We have croissants and more coffee before we go back out for more orchiding, this time along to coast to Ramsgate to see if the bees had recovered from last year.

The site is a former industrial one, abandoned for over 30 years, and nature is reclaiming it back, and it is now like something from a post-apocalyptic future movie where nature has run wild. It has not just orchids, but broomrapes, countless other species of wild flowers, plants and trees, insects like Small Blue and Holly Blue Butterflies. There is always something new to see there.

We search the site and soon find Bee Orchids, not as many as before last year's drought, but a good recovery, and it is still early for them, some spikes will get bigger for sure.

I snap many of them, and butterflies before we are done and we walk back to the car, meaning to get an ice cream, but there was a queue. And I know how slow service is there, so with ice creams waiting at home, we return to St Maggies for ice cream and an early lunch, so I can return to the orchid fields later in the day.

So after rolls and a glass of squash I was out again, hoping that the sunny weather would last as expected.

But it didn't.

I went to PGD to look for the Musk Orchid, there were sill a few Monkey hunters about, but I ignored all the Simias to go to the third paddock and stare, hunched up, for an hour looking for tiny green pikes of the Musk, and found zilch. Nad. Nothing. I was swearing, talking to the grass about giving up its secrets, and nothing was doing.

Will go back next week to look again.

I walk back to the car and decide on one final call, if the weather didn't perk up, Wye for for the Late Spiders, as last time I looked I could find no sign.

After driving down endless narrow lanes, I come to the site and go to explore and find five small wire cages on the down, each with a single orchid spike. Better than last year, but not as good as previous, so I take shots, after waiting for the sun to break through the cloud, I give up and just take shots, and once done, I decide not to bother with the GBO at Ashford, I turn for home.

The weather was acting odd; cloudy inland, but at Folkestone, under clear blue skies, and yet near to home, under cloud again, so dark it looked like the biggest thunderstorm ever was coming. But it failed to arrive.

We sat in the garden, ate an ice cream, and watched as the garden filled with insects, the alliums being a firm favourite.

England kicked off at just gone five in a pre-world cup friendly, I tried hard to be excited, but Glenn Hoddle doing the summary? Nah.

I watch the second half, with England 2-0 up, and they were terrible, barely able to string two passes together, but hold on to a 2-1 win.

We end the day watching a new series, The Expanse, which is complicated, but I expect it to make sense at some point.