As the weather forecast for Saturday was good, I decided that I’d take a trip down to Durlston Country Park to see the Early Spider Orchids.

We had a pleasant drive down and arrived about an hour after setting off which was quicker than I expected. A quick trip to the information centre provided the information on where to find the Early Spider Orchids, as well as the Green Winged Orchids, Early Gentian & Adders Tongue Fern.

Finding the aforementioned items was however a completely different matter. The Early Spider Orchids were easily found as were numerous Early Purple Orchids, but the Green Winged Orchid proved more elusive until a trip back to the visitor centre revealed that we hadn’t walked far enough out.

After running into a volunteer out in the field we managed to locate the Early Gentian & Adders Tongue Fern, the Early Gentian being much smaller than I was expecting, then we moved out past the lighthouse to see the Green Winged Orchids which were plentiful.

So all in all, it was a successful outing with 3 orchid species seen, and the sightings of the Adders Tongue Fern & Early Gentian being a really nice bonus.

A good start to the 2008 Orchid Season.

Its a bit later than last year, but I figured that this was the last weekend that I’d have chance to photograph the Snakeshead Fritillary before the season was over.

I set off from Oxford Station and arrived at Iffley Meadow after about half an hours walk. The day was pleasant enough, overcast but bright & as a result quite good for photography.

This time, I walked around the whole of the site & found all the best spots for these stunning plants, but I have to say that I was a bit late in the season as most of them were past their best.

Nonetheless, I managed to get some good images, a couple of which can be seen below.

Today was my first time volunteering witht he BBOWT workparty at Hartslock in Oxfordshire.  I spend a lot of time on this reserve with my camera & so I figured that it was time I gave something back.

As I’d been out dancing at Totton the night before, I had to drive up from Woodlands, which took me about 1.5 hours.  As there had been quite a lot of rain recently, I decided no to risk the drive to the reserve & parked at Goring & Streatley station and walked the 1.5 miles to the reserve.

When I arrived, the workparty was already underway with two groups.  One group was mapping the location of the Monkey Orchids whilst the other was doing scrub clearance on the newly acquired plot.

I opted for mapping the orchids & learnt a lot about how to identify the various different species that grow on the site just from the leaves.

After a very heavy shower, Chris (the warden) decided that we’d best avoid the orchid slope, so we went across to help with the scrub clearance.

On the way over, we saw a fantastic show of Pasque Flowers, but unfortunately I only had a camera phone with me.

The Lady & Monkey orchids are growing well, though they are about 2 weeks behind where they were at this time last year.  There was no sign of the White Helleborines at all, but the Twayblades were also growing very well.

After the scrub clearance, we called it a day at about 14:00 & after some more tips on identifying the orchids from the leaves, I managed to get a lift back to the station & ate lunch, before driving home.

A thoroughly rewarding day.  I’m hoping that I shall be able to make this a regular thing.