Sunday 4th August 2019

Its all go.

I mean, all that travelling and stuff, then back home Saturday night, get enough sleep so to be up at six ready to lead an orchid walk.

Phew.

We really didn't have enough time to have breakfast, but had some fruit and yoghurt anyway, meaning we were running late, and needed to fill up the car as it was running on fumes.

We went to Tesco, but were alarmed to find the 24 hour petrol station closed! I amean, who did that happen?

Our lat chance was the small independent station near to Barham, Jools checked on her phone and it should have been open, but then, so should Tesco have been.

Thankfully it was open, so we filled the tank to the brim, then went into Canterbury to the West station to pick up a fellow orchidist.

She was waiting, so after she got in, it was back out of the sleepy city to Barham and to the car park of the Black Robin. I had failed to make a list of who was going to attend, but what could go wrong?

Plenty.

But before then, I had been told of another colony of Yellow Birdsnet, which was just a short walk away, so the instructions said.

75m became 750, and then in the dark undergrowth I found the little yellow spikes sticking out of the leaf matter.

My friend's shots on an i phone came out better than mine on nearly four grand's worth of kit. How does that work?

We then went to the pub to meet the gang. There seemed to be loads, so, "wagons roll".

At just past half eight, I lead a convoy out of the pub car park, therefore missing another group coming who arrived less than a minute after we left. They tried to message me on FB, but I have no mobile phone, so their pleas went unanswered, and there was I thinking I had been so clever.

We parked at the hard standing, then I lead a line of folks up the narrow path through a crown of rosebay willowherb, then up the steep slope of the down, deep into the woods.

I showed them spikes that had been damaged, and others not open, point out to them the signs of a helleborines growing and the spike unfurling, so they should recognise a spike if they were to see one.

Might work.

And then onto the open spikes, and hiding behind a tree were the two open spkes, back lit by the sun, they looked almost fiery yellow.

Isn't that a fine sight, I said? It was.

So, for half an hour they took turns in snapping them, Jeff found another partially open spike making him very happy, and it was in a better lit place too.

And that was it, three open spikes, pictures taken, and back to the car.

We agreed to take Francesca back to Herne Bay, as I pointed out to Jools, we could go tot eh ice cream parlour, couldn't we? Yes we could. So, to avoid the traffic in Canterbury, we drive up the A2, then back along Thanet Way to Herne Bay, parking on the sea front where we part from Francesca, and after battling the parking app, we walk to the parlour and have an Oreo sundae. It was sweet, and sharing one between us was the right thing to do. We don't like crowds, so decide to leave the town and drive home, back to Ramsgate and back to Whitfield, where we discover the port jammed up again, so we take the back road to Pineham and Guston, then back home. Phew. Lunch was more nachos and beer. Jools handmade the salsa. I grated the cheese. Mmmmm, cheese. I messed around all afternoon. Achieved nothing, but took all afternoon to do it. Jools worked hard in the garden, weeding and stuff. So I make regular coffees, though we have no ice cream. Sadly. Dinner was caprese, fresh bread and wine. Always wine.