Thursday 20th May 2021

Day 6 of the holibob.

And with the weather set to get worse from Thursday evening, it was important to make the most of the day. And yet after a bright dawn and sunrise, it quickly clouded over.

But still.

I had a quick breakfast of fruit, then checked the camera that it had a charged battery and memory card with enough space, I set off for Denge Wood.

I had been putting off Denge until there was a bright day so I could see the Dukes as well as the Lady Orchids, but as the weather was going to be poor over the weekend and into next week, and I have a wee trip planned for the first part of next week, I went anyway.

I had the woodland walk pretty much to myself, one dogwalker came by; we said good morning, and carried on past each other. I saw no butterflies, and few birds either, and the plants on either side swayed in the breeze.

The reserve was empty too, and much clearance has taken place over the winter, meaning that orchid numbers were well down, especially at the far end where there used to be dozens and dozens of spikes. Very few now, though I suspect numbers will bounce back in following years, but I still felt disappointed.

I stood for half an hour at each end of the reserve, looking for signs of Dukes. I think I saw one, but it flew high into a tree to roost and wasn't seen again.

And where I was expecting to see some very plae Lady Orchids, there was just grass, not a sign of the several almost white spikes of previous years.

I needed cheering up.

What better way, then, that visiting a "secret" site for some of the rarest orchids in the country?

OK you're on!

I had to drive to Ospringe to meet Duncan and Becca, and to make it interesting, some lanes near to Faversham were closed to stop them becomming "rat runs" for cars avoiding the closure of the A251. Which meant that traffic along the old A2 would be even heavier than needed.

I only found out about the lane closures once I got past Leaveland, and the roads to Painters Forstal were both closed. I turned round took a road through Throwley, then along past the golf course to the the church at Ospringe.

It wasn't even warm enough to see the wall lizards, a dogwalker asked what we were looking for, staring at the gaps between flints on the church wall. She seemed interested.

We got in their car to drive to a secret location, park on the side of a road, which looked like hundreds of others in Kent, but a barely clear track lead through the trees and up. We got out, grabbed a camera each and walked up the track, which soon became clear, and for me, familiar, as I was last here in 2016. We all nearly stand on a small Man Orchid spike on the side of the path, so it survives.

We come to a stile, but I could see two cages already in the long grass. These are what we had come to see.

Under one was a small Monkey Orchid, under the one next to it, a small Man Orchid. Sadly, the much hoped for hybrid failed to show this year, but last time there were no Man here, now there are at least two.

We take shots of the Monkey, the look for other cages.

We found 15 more Monkey, most open or near fully open. We snap a dark red second spike, which is most impressive indeed.

We look at every spike, then walk back up the down, climb the stile nad walk back down to the car.

Further along, we stop again to check a very little known site for another rare (for Kent) orchid, a Sword Leaved Helleborine. The wood looks the same as much along the road, but a brief search revealed about a dozen orchid spikes, but all White Helleborines, which is a shame, but a couple were open, or in flower. As these self-pollinate, the flowers themselves rarely open, as there is no need.

Our final call was to be Stalisfied, whee they promised me a pub lunch, and as I felt so good, I thought I would risk a beer.

The sat nav said it was five miles to the Plough, but the maze of lanes it took us down made it seem longer. But we arrived at one minute past midday, meaning that lunch was being served, and there were free tables everywhere, inside and out.

But, did you book?

Er, no.

Well, let me check the diary.

Probably checks an empty page: yes, you can sit outside, find a table and I'll come out to take your order.

I had a beer. A small beer. My first since the end of March. Felk quite reckless. And if the gout comes back, will feel stupide too.

We take a table, and we have two sharing platters between us. Baked camembert and sourdough toast, and a selection of pork nibbles: ribs, scotch egg, sausage. Yummy.

And with the beer it was very fine.

So, one final orchid visit with them, a wlak down to Sprockle Wood, to check on the bluebells and into the meadow to see how the Greater Butterfly were doing.

The wind had got up firther, and was now downright cold, not like May at all, but more like November. But once in the wood, there was no wind at all, and was quite warm.

The recent rain had made the paths as muddy and slippery as I can remember, so we took out time getting down to the main track, which was ankle deep in mud.

And so there were no hornets buzzing about, I see them here most springs, so we come to the fence, climb over into the meadow and survey the GBOs, which are in ride health, lots of spikes pushing sjywards, and lots of Roman (edible) snails about too, and some make baby snails as well.

Oh la la.

Duncan found a Fly Orchid, which we all photograph, and that, pretty much, was that.

We walk back to the cars, my toe beginning to throb, but I had walked a long way through the day, so it was good to reach the car. We said farewell, and I drove dwon the A20 to go to Ashford, rejoin the motorway to home.

I had to refill the car, and bought some choclate, a large white Twix to have when I got home with a brew, and another to have with Jools in the evening.

It was nearly four, time to enjoy a coffee and the Twix, before it was time to start preparing dinner.

But, what's this? No salad?

So instead of salad there is fried mashed potato with salted herbs, a couple of warmed through sausages and the rest of the beans. Not as healthy, but yummy.

There is yet more playoff football to watch. We're not halfway through those yet.

More coffee. More choclate. More music.

Outside the wind howls, and the rain hammers down.