Sunday 4th August 2024

For the last year, our friend Ange has been preparing to swim the Channel as part of a relay team.

Not only is the actual swim hard, the training and preparation are hard too.

There's the qualification swims, which prove to those who allow such swims that you are in fact safe to do so.

I say this, because at dusk on Sunday night, she and the other three swimmers and their support boat set off for France, across the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

As for us, the same old, same old.

And as hard as it is to believe, the orchid season is drawing to an end, and the final two Kent species to see in flower. I knew the Autumn Lady's Tresses were in flower, somewhere on the down above Dover, and hoped the Violet Helleborines I saw two weeks back would be in flower.

I went alone, meeting a new guy from the orchid group in the car park behind the old George and Dragon. He was there when I arrived, we greeted, and once I had my camera and walking pole, we set off.

Up through the woods, along the edge of the meadow, up the path in the hedge and out onto the grassy tops of the down, along the deep path, through the gate and down, down through the long grass.

Now, could I find a spike or two?

It took maybe ten minutes, but I spotted the first spike, then Damian saw a larger, almost perfect spike. So we both got shots, then up to the path, through the gates and into the paddock to look for more, and Autumn Gentians.

I was hoping we'd find loads, and soon enough we did, but not many flowers open thanks to the overcast, but bright, conditions.

No Silver Spotted Skippers though, and few other butterflies at all, just a couple of Marbled Whites and possibly a fresh Common Blue seen, though they were flighty and I could not get a shot.

We walked back to the car, on the way we discussed other things, and he said he knew a site with hundreds of Yellow Birdsnests, which happened to be near the Violet Helleborines that he wanted to see.

We drove in convoy to the A2, then to Kingston and out to a layby, and just in the wood were perhaps a hundred Yellow Birsdnest, most now past their best, but a fab find.

There was more further up, but time was against us, so stopping to snap a couple of Broad Leaved Helleborines, I lead us to the parking spaces, then up the edge of the wood, climbing all the time until we reached the top of the wooded down.

On the way, I stopped to show him where Lady could be found, and Birdsnest, and just into the wood there was another 120 Yellow Birdsnest.

I had the clumps of Violet Helleborines saved to what3words, but within 20 metres, I could see the two flowering spikes beside a mature beech tree, faintly glowing in the diffused light.

We found up to 30 spikes in all, some way behind the two flowering spikes, but showing that not all got munched by snails.

It was half eleven, I was hot and hungry and had done 10,000 steps, so I bid Damian farewell, and I walked back down to the car, then out back to the A2 and home.

We had a brew and a bar of chocolate, not too much so Jools could go swimming an hour later.

When she came back I cooked pizza and we had one each and beer/cider, then struggled to stay awake through the afternoon.

I put the moth trap out in the evening, cooked bacon butties for supper, and the weekend was done.

But for Ange, the great adventure was just beginning.