Having stoically resisted to go for the Eleonora’s Falcon at
Worth near Sandwich in Kent over the weekend I then tweaked my day plan today
and started down there at about nine o’clock before my Orchid day tour was due
to begin.
It only took an hour to get there and the walk down through the pools and
meadows was very pleasant but I knew that I was unsighted on where the falcon
was sitting so it was a slightly nervy 15 minutes.
As it happened the first falcon I saw was the female
Red-footed as she scooted across the fields and up into the edge of the
copse. This was in fact the last time I
saw her as she did not emerge until after I left but a nice start nonetheless.
I put my bins up and could immediately see the Ellie sat on a small white post
and absolutely dwarfing the dinky little Hobbies that were sitting either side
of it.
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| Eleonora’s Falcon |
For the whole hour I had there he (it is a 1st
summer male) barely twitched and merely glanced around while the Hobbies took
their fill of small avian prey and occasionally gave their bigger cousin a
little poke.
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| Eleonora’s Falcon - a magical shot from Shaun Harvey. I am not sure if it showed to anyone quite like this today but it was just fine through my scope thanks! |
It was just too cool for any serious action but he looked
superb in the scope with the chocolate plumage, off white face and warm cinnamon
streaky underparts. Strangely this was probably my nest view of a perched Ellie
as most of the time I get to see them hurtling across the Lesvos sky.
I have a history with Eleonora’s in the UK having found a
dark phase bird at RSPB Rainham Marshes on the 20th September 2009
during the course of our autumn fair. A
few people got on it as it lazily circled above the marsh (on day with notable
raptor passage) with me shouting over the tannoid for anyone with a
camera. Back in those days it was not a
given bit of kit to be taken out and not a single picture was taken. We saw it through the scope though and
despite the various eyes, our description did not pass muster with the BBRC as ‘not
proven’ which was a pity. To this day I
am still more than happy with what we saw that day but it did not make today
any less special as they are one of my favourite species of any Lesvos trip.
Sparrowhawk and Buzzard were added and Reed Buntings
obligingly sung from the adjacent reeds were Sedge and Reed Warblers were also
still in song.
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| Reed Bunting |
Avocet pairs had at least four broods between them on the
pools and I could hear Redshanks and Lapwings too. The borrowdykes were full of
Yellow Water Lilies but there were only a couple of torpid Blue-tailed Damsels
and a male Banded Demoiselle.
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| Glaucous Bulrush was growing well in the ditches |
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| Yellow Water Lily |
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| Yellow Flag |
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| Avocet families |
With time a premium and the likelihood of a good aerial
performance somewhat unlikely, I decided to amble back passing a Corn Bunting
and a couple of interesting inverts on the way with Tropidia scita and a big
fat hairy Drinker moth cat. It was my first major twitch for some time and it was great to reacquaint myself with friends from my birding past. Of course when I got back I discovered that I could actually see the Ellie from the car park albeit at some greater distance!
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| Drinker |
I cut cross country and met my crew at Park Gate Down for
the first of our Orchid walks. It was
11c and the fleece had to go on! Ridiculous!
Thankfully it does not affect most plants and we were very successful in
our hunt with many scrunched up gnarly Monkeys with their long pink arms, the first Common Spotted and attempts at Chalk Fragrant (we even found one that was already scented), the lone dignified Lady, worn out Early Purples, subtle Twayblades, tiny Flies and a stand of 13 majestic Greater Butterflies.
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| Monkeys |
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| Chalk Fragrant |
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| Chalk Fragrant |
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| Common Spotted |
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| The Lone Lady |
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| Greater Butterflies |
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| Fly |
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| Common Twayblade |
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| Common Twayblade |
There were plenty of Speedwells and Vetches and a few deep
coloured Milkworts while the Columbine nodded at the top of the bank. There were basically no insects with just a
few Hovers and Bumbles and just one pair of Common Blues to represent
Butterflies!
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| Common Rockrose |
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| Common Blues |
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| Oedemera noblis |
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| Columbine |
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| Yellow Shell |
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| A rather splendid plump Weevil |
Bullfinches called and I could hear Firecrests, Goldcrests
and Yellowhammers but no fluty Golden Oriole like last year!
A spot to eat and then on to look for some Late Spider
Orchids. We got lucky and managed to park
and just a short walk later we had a great display before us. I should have counted but I think that there
were at least 30 flowering spikes which as usual offered a bewildering array of
patterns and colours.
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Late Spider Orchids -
Just how these three flowers are from the same species is almost beyond me |
A couple of Pyramidal Orchids were just starting to open up and there were several Chalk Fragrants that were much further along than at Park Gate. Small Heath, Common Blue and Small White were the only butterflies while Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer sang up slope.
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| Pyramidal |
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| Chalk Fragrant |
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| Hypochalcia ahenella |
With only White Helleborine as an Orchid addition at Bonsai
and it being too cold for almost insect life I forwent the long undulating walk and headed
up to look for the Lesser Butterflies.
It was raining when we arrived and a quick look down on the main road
verge added several Man Orchids to the tally and more Pyramidals before the
Butterfly and Lady action in the woods!
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| Man |
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| Man |
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| Pyramidal |
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| Broad-leaved Helleborine |
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| Lady |
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| Lesser Butterfly - parallel pollenia |
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| Lesser Butterfly |
The Broad-leaved Helleborines were coming along well and I
was pleased to find a couple of fresh (what I think is) Ivy Broomrape spires
amongst the remnants of last years in the darkness of the Ivy covered floor by
the car parking spot. Nettle-leaved
Bellflower and Ploughmans Spikenard were leafing up nicely.
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| Ivy Broomrape |
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| Black Bryony |
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| Nettle-leaved Bellflower |
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| Columbine |
It was raining quite
heavily by the time we got back and so we called it a day and headed for our
homes after a successful excursion with 13 species of Orchid under the belt.
Greater Butterfly
Lesser Butterfly
Man
Lady
Fly
Pyramidal
Chalk Fragrant
Common Spotted
Monkey
Early Purple
Twayblade
Late Spider
Broad-leaved Helleborine
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