Thursday 4th June 2026

I am a member of the Hardy Orchid Society (HOS), and each year ask for people to lead free site visits where orchids can be found.

I was asked before Christmas if I could step in and lead one in Kent as their usual guy was recovering from an operation. In the event he did recover, but did I have any ideas of places to go other than PGD and Bonsai?

I did.

Several.

So it came to pass that I created a five stop tour, submitted it, and was accepted. And when the tour went live I had to close the list when it reached twenty people!

Over the months I kept those attending up to date with flowering, and what would likely fade before the tour, and what would be OK.

In the last week I supplied addresses, postcodes, W3W codes and grid references for all sites, then on Wednesday snips of maps and GSV showing the places to look for when arriving or turning down a country lane.

I thought I have covered all bases.

Phew!

So the morning arrived, and the weather forecast was changeable, to say the least. We had coffee and breakfast, but skipped the gym as I would be doing plenty of phys through the day.

We met two guys off the train in Folkestone just before eight. They climbed in, and that's when the rain started!

Not just rain. But proper rain that fell from the sky like it was from buckets. Roads turned to rivers as we climbed into the downs.

We turned off down the lane, and half a mile on we came to the "road closed" signs.

The rain was still bouncing down.

We had seen no diversion signs, but looking at the map there seemed to be a way round. All well and good for us, but there was at least ten other cars coming, and the short drive from the meet point to the site was now a four mile diversion down six-foot-sixers. In a rainstorm!

We went to the site, arriving as the clouds cleared, though the path was a bubbling stream. Jools went back to the meeting point, while Jon, David and I went to the Late spider site.

Spikes that were perfect at the weekend were now browning off badly. Of the five spikes found, four were showing signs of turning, while the fifth was perfect.

Jools returned with more people and two more carfulls, Jon and David went with Jools and I showed the next group the orchids.

In the end all saw the orchids in three groups, so much so that we were done in just over an hour, and half an hour ahead of schedule.

From there it was a half hour's drive up to Barham. We stopped off in the post office/village shop for refreshments and an ice cream, sitting outside as more rain clouds gathered.

I began to get calls from the others on the tour that they had arrived at the hard standing, and I wasn't there, so we hightailed it to the Black Robin, turned down the lane and in ten minutes arrived. And soon enough all had arrived, so we could walk into the woods, and I find the area where the Bird's-nests were, calling the group over and advising them where was safe to stand, and where was filled with orchids.

Again, the BNO were going over, all bar a couple of spikes were already in seed, where at the weekend they were fine. I apologise again, but they accept with good grace, and they were thrilled to find a woodland Fly Orchid still in reasonable shape, even if the woodland Lady were just gone to seed and fading fast.

We had over an hour to drive to Monkton. Again not helped by closed roads, but we knew the alternate ways, so we went through Shepherdswell and then onto the Sandwich Road, onto Thanet and to Monkton.

And while on the Sandwich bypass, I pointed out the huge number of Lizard orchid spikes growing just the other side of the crash barriers and on the central reservation.

We had half an hour once arrived at Monkton. So I had a cuppa and a flapjack, sat and talked to those on the trip who had already arrived.

Then at one we met the director, Clive, who welcomed us and outlined what grants from the HOS had allowed the reserve to achieve.

Then we could go on a wander round the reserve, sticking to just the lower level as the rain had made the chalk slippery like ice. But we saw hundred of Man Orchids, some Chalk fragrant, Southern Marsh, Common Spotted, Bee and Twayblades. The tour was very happy, as most had only seen a few Man before in isolated colonies round the country.

A quick drive to Monks Wall. A reserve set beside the Sandwich bypass, though it wasn't the reserve itself we visited, but the verges and central reservations, where dozens of mature Lizard orchid spikes were enjoyed and photographed.

The group was amazed at the number and size, as well as some being pale green or even yellow in colour. Common broomrape was seen, as well as more Bee orchids in flower in the undergrowth.

I was getting tired, but we had one last site: Sandwich Bay. If not for the Lizards but the nationally rare Bedstraw broomrape, though when I checked on Sunday, the there was only two spikes not totally burnt off.

After an ice cream, we walked off across the reserve, through the meadow and the dune slacks, then over the two fairways of the golf course and onto The Strand.

I set off knowing where one of the less burnt spikes would be, while the group dallied. I gave a shout as I found a spike still showing the yellow colour.

But then the group found a newly emerged spike, brought on by the recent rain I would have thought, and they all carried out a sniff check which proved it was indeed clove-centered.

And with that the tour ended, and we walked back to the observatory, said our goodbyes and we all scattered near and far back to our homes or their hotels.

We dropped Jon off in Sandwich, and Jon at Dover Priory. Thankfully traffic was light, it was now cool and windy, but we had had good weather since that early morning downpour.

We go back home, test and feed Scully and the rest of the cats. I rustle up some garlic bread, warm through some defrosted ragu, cook some pasta, and within half an hour of getting in, we were tucking into a fine Italian feast.

It has been quite a few days preparing for the day, but the feedback from the members made it all worth while.

Knackered, we went to be at half eight, while it was still light.