WHAT I DID IN JULY

Well .. I have been doing .. stuff.

Argh .. it is such a pain. I have been up to several things and waiting around for some things to occur so that I could then improve on everything that I do.

Well .. that is the plan and this has already occurred.

Now then .. I was going through some photos and videos for a post, now my next post, when I realised I had already acquired a number of things from some trips that I forgot to post.

I have this memory .. issue, you see?

Anyhoo now I have to process and reduce the pictures for my blog.

These two .. posts may well be the last of this kind before they are .. improved .. somewhat .. yeeaaah that will be an understatement.

I have also developed these really silly and quite unexpected .. psychological issues due to the number of changes about to take place and the fact that it is somewhat .. overwhelming in different ways. Largely due to memory issues I think?

Anyway here are some pictures of wildlife I have managed to get in July ...

And here are some videos ..

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID NEW SITE CONFIRMATION

Shocking myself by walking up to the same point I saw these Orchids last year or the year before by some miracle I filmed and can now confirm the existence of Common Spotted Orchids are Site 1 of my various sites.

Now I state that I walked to the same spot but while looking the same there were just two Orchids where last time I thought there were three of two different yes, I remembered them being closer together, but might have just been that one has not appeared alongside another just yet.

Also you have to remember that after spotting the Bee Orchids and Common Spotted Orchids last year I then SCOURED the area looking for other Common Spotted Orchids to no avail. I of course did this again after finding these but only found several Bee Orchids. Some of the buds of the latter were not open so I will go back up in a few days time and ... scour once again.

Also bear in mind that I have been visiting thhis site dozens of times each year for at least 6 maybe 7 years now and yet only in the last 12 months have I seen both Common Spotted Orchids at this site, not documented as far as I know, and Bee Orchids, which are documented as being here for sure.

So the most boring site of all the Orchid sites has now become the most ... intriguing!

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID WITH TWAYBLADES

Think I forgot to post this.

As will as one, maybe two, Marsh Orchids, Pyramidal Orchid, Twayblade Orchid there are also Common Spotted Orchids.

So that is four maybe five species of orchids in one spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSJQRWzM4Zw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A PYRAMID AMONG TWAYS AND SPOTS

A surprise here when I spot a Pyramidal Orchid among the Common Twayblades.

Already seen Common Spotted and one of the Marsh Orchids at this site. Possibly both Marsh Orchids too but not right for Bee Orchids, even if they tried to plant them, lol.

So at least 4 species here which is a surprise as last year kept drawing a blank and thought they had all died out, lol!

Spitting them this year coincided with me sitting two guys from park authority bent over in the meadow looking like they were planting new ones, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CstLTMGOEk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

EXAMPLE IN VARIATION OF COLOUS ( OF ONE SINGLE SITE) OF DACTYLORHIZA FUCHSII

Mind bending amount of shades and patterning and one that has absence of both which is the very last picture of the alba form.

and of course the alba, lol...

VIDEOS OF TWAYBLADE ORCHIDS - NEOTTIA OVATA

Some videos of the Common Twayblade Orchid, Neottia ovata.

One has Common Spotted Orchid amongst them, Dactylorhiza fuchsii.

VIDEO of DACTYLORHIZA FUCHSII ALBA

A video of that White Common Spotted Orchid

VIDEOS OF COMMON SPOTTED ORCHIDS - DACTYLORHIZA FUCHSII

DAY OF THE ORCHIDS - COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID DACTYLORHIZA FUCHSII

OK now this one was a real shocker and I had placed this and the other Orchid in reverse order of their discovery at being at a site that I THOUGHT I was familiar with?!

Apparently NOT!

LOL.

These, which I assumed to be, Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) were smaller than the ones I normally see at another location! That other location was also ventured to the same day and they Orchids were bigger and more numerous than normal?!

ORCHID DAY PREVIEW OF BREAKING RECORDS

Right now my neck is killing me and I am very knackered and yet I am about to go out...AGAIN!

Only THIS time I am going on foot and leaving the dreaded BIKE here as I have been out on it for HOURS and HOURS!!

But I thought I would explain why and where I was while out and about on my bike.

I dragged myself out on the bike and cycled up to my usual visits and had not intended to go that far and was going to do many things while I was out.

Only Location number one where I was hoping to get one species of Orchid I had not seen there for a couple of weeks not only had it in abundance but shock of shocks while photographing I then spy something out the corner of my eye and bugger me gently over a table it is a second species?! I had they were there but not seen one in 6 years of looking?!

Not only that but as I am looking for more of the abundant species I only go and find a THIRD species?!

Then I head off to location two thinking bloody hell I have just got shots of THREE SPECIES of British Orchids and I have not reached the main park yet?! I then think if I get to the next one and get that other elusive species this will be four?! Plus if any others are among them them maybe 5?!

Then I decide to keep on going, not good as I had not eaten anything or drank much, to see if I can hit some personal record for not only seeing but getting snap shots of many species in just one outing?!

I get that fourth species and get a few others at the same site!!

So then I go off to Location 3 and get a load of photographs and then off to Location 4 and to my surprise there are more Orchids than I have seen in years at these spots.

So in all I got snapshots of 6 species of Orchid all in flower at the same time on the same day...JUST ABOUT!

Did look for Early Purple at one location I thought I had seen them before to make 7 species but to no avail.

I am knackered right now and I have a painfully stiff....NECK! LOL.

This is because I just finished editing all the photographs to prepare for posting up and had to place them into individual folders for each of the locations!

I also got a few other things too like several Poppies and a Blue Butterfly including a few videos of it?!

The Blue Butterfly was another achievement I had wanted for sometime and now other types of Blue Butterflies are my goal as well as many other species of Butterfly too.

So that is what my focus will turn to now and that is Butterflies and Insects and hopefully some bid species thrown in from time to time.

So over the weekend is going to be a series of like a dozen posts, at a guess lol, of the 129 photos (about 25% of what I took) that I have edited!

VIDEO of EARLY AND COMMON SPOTTED ORCHIDS

Video of Common Spotted Orchid and Early Marsh Orchid....I think, lol.

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID SITE - DACTYLORHIZA FUCHSII

Finally I manage to post up the last of the series, well until I am up there next today or tomorrow, on my British Orchids?!

PHEW!

The weather had been extremely forgiving unlike the insects which manage to find two spot not covered by insect repellent. One on the outside of my right hand and the other on my left elbow.

Both areas become quite swollen and my knuckles red...THE BLIGHTERS!!

If I said that the Orchids were late this year that would be an understatement! These are just opening as you can see and yet normally in June these flowers would have been and gone for a couple of months on many like the Southern and Early Marsh Orchids. Granted the Common Spotted Orchids you see here are a little later than the others but they are still late.

With a little luck I shall get shots of them fully opened and hope the weather is on my side. Also if I am really lucky I will get some good shots of Common Twayblade Orchids and Pyramidal Orchids.

The former I have only just located and the latter I have not seen for a couple of years so fingers crossed!!!

After that I may just be able to start planning trips to locations further afield with Orchids and of course other wildlife?!

Toes crossed!! LOL.

 The wiggly lines common on the Dactylorhiza I visit.

 You can see the spotting on the leaves here, a shame the flowers do not last longer than they do like tropical Orchids!

 I like this photo.

 As you can see some have more spotting on the leaves than others

 Oddly I usually see some with flowers so pale they are almost WHITE. I am trying to figure out why this is.

 Heavy spotting but for me often the ones with fewer but large spots look a little better.

 Oops an Early Marsh Orchid crept in the post?!

 I did a few arty shots too over on my photography blog.

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID - DACTYLORHIZA FUCHSII

The names common and early should be BANNED from naming any life at all, I hate the term, lol.

Still here are the Common Spotted Orchids taken yesterday and even after posting several things last night and several things already today across several blogs, phew, I finally post them!!

AND TOMORROW I get to go out and do it all AGAIN?!?!

Hehehahaheheheheahaa (mad laugh!)

Still I DO enjoy it.

Sadly I fear for this Orchid site as like the others I have watched the numbers dwindle each year for 6 years due to overtaken by other plants while bushes and trees have slowly blocked out the light.

This year for the first time ever a shed load of trees and bushes have been felled and there are curious pot holes all over this meadow?!

Other Orchid enthusiasts have commented to me about this too. As well as being highly suspicious of how it is all run (hmm managed would be the wrong word), and that is from the top to the bottom, lol.