An hour of birdwatching in Didsbury, Manchester

Winter tends to be the time with no updates to this blog. But I’ll make an exception for this post about a quick hour of birdwatching in Didsbury, Manchester. This blogpost is primarily for Paul – mostly with record shots of birds in and around his garden.

There are the usual suspects – magpies, blackbirds, different types of gulls, wood pigeons and the like. In the short time I was looking, I saw three different birds of the tits family: Greater, blue and coal.

Blue tit:

Coal tit:

Great tit:

The biggest surprise were a flock of about 12 ring-necked parakeet, zooming through the garden and surrounding trees. Here are two of them (in a tree quite far away):

The following is a record-shot of a nuthatch in the tall tree at the end (to the left) of the garden:

A little robin next door:

There was a group of 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Here’s one of them:

Here is a record shot of a pair of chaffinches:

And a goldfinch (also a record-shot):

There was also this Carrion Crow in flight:

Beautiful winter colour in the garden:

And finally: this mysterious – very confiding – blue bird:

Swift’s Hill in August: Spiranthes and more

Swift’s Hill is the place to go to see orchids, and it doesn’t disappoint now that we’re approaching autumn, with autumn lady’s tresses starting to show. Here is a selection of photos – all taken in the early evening in less than ideal light conditions. If I get a chance I’ll add more photos in better conditions, soon:

There is also autumn gentian (we’re having an autumnal theme, here!):

Carline thistle:

Dwarf thistle:

The yellowwort is now in seed – still very ‘yellow’, in a different way, though:

And the views from the hill are spectacular, as always:

Black Forest animals

While looking for ghost orchids in the Black Forest recently (early August 2014), we came across a number of interesting animals as well. The most impressive (for me) were these map butterflies, which I first thought were smallish-looking white admirals (but then I checked!):

 

There were also many Silver-washed fritillaries, just like in the Lower Woods:

Near the ghost orchids, we came across this lovely hare!

There were many different types of crickets and grasshoppers – to be ID’d (here are two):

In a nearby town, I found these firebugs and common blue butterfly:

Ghost orchids in the Black Forest

Having learnt about an area in the Black Forest where ghost orchids are flowering pretty regularly every year, I decided to go and have a look. I was taking my daughter to visit Germany anyway, the timing seemed perfect for the flowering season, I managed to get a reasonably priced flight to Munich and a good train connection to the Black Forest (and on from there). Why on earth not?

I was in touch with a local gentleman who knew something about the topic, and he was kind enough to let me know where exactly to go to see those few flowers that had appeared this year (2014). I was excited… No, that doesn’t really capture it – I was full of anticipation and absolutely ecstatic!

This photos is taken on our approach to the woods – showing the combination of coniferous and (mixed) deciduous woodland, surrounded by arable fields:

 

(the sign reads something along the lines of ‘do not enter by motorised or other vehicle’)

The orchids grew just a short walk from where this image was taken. Three lumps of plants were accessible from the paths. There were possibly many more further in the woods, but because this plant is very fragile – it grows just below the surface for most of the time and only resurfaces every few years (or, perhaps decades) – visitors are urged to stay on the paths.

I saw a total of 9 orchids. This collection of 5 right next to the path:

(on the next picture with flash to show other details not visible above):

There were these three (one of them is hiding behind the other) near where the other 5 were growing. One – possibly two of the plants – have 5 flowers per spike, which is quite impressive:

(and with flash):

And finally there was this solitary plant, which had already gone over and was about to set seed:

The woodland was truly stunning, and there were signs of earlier orchid growth wherever we looked. Here is a picture of the woodland floor with remnants (leave-stalks) of the lady’s slipper orchids that flowered here earlier in the year (the broad leaves at the bottom centre of the picture):

There were remnants of different types of helleborines (epipactis) of seed heads of bird’s nest orchids (the latter below):

There were many other plants, such as Martagon lilies in seed, as well as May lilies (as in the following picture), also in seed:

As expected, there were lots of different fungi (common in areas where ghost orchids grow/have grown in the past). Most impressive, I thought, were these “rings” of fungi on the ground:

I was impressed to see these earth stars (geastrum triplex):

Outside the woods, there were a few beautiful wildflower meadows – full of scabious, knapweed, yellow rattle and more – attracting a number of interesting butterflies (see my separate post).

There were also a few bushes of atropa belladonna – we stayed well away from those:

“Bugs” and orchids in the Wye Valley

I went on a serious orchid hunt in the Wye Valley today (with two other orchid enthusiasts) – and despite not really finding the most elusive orchid in Britain, I still saw many other interesting creepy crawlies, butterflies, birds and fungi. It was a real treat!

I even saw some more Marsh Helleborines – clinging on for dear life (most had gone well and truly over – some were still in seed). There were the occasional Marsh Fragrant Orchids – again well and truly over. But three of the Marsh Helleborines were still in flower, and we were even treated to a common blue posing for us on one of them:

 

This one is in seed (almost impossible to spot in the long grass):

We saw many migrant hawkers – mostly in flight and almost impossible to catch (though one rested for a short while – behind a leaf, cf. the second picture – can you spot the tip of the tail and part of a wing?)

Butterflies included wood whites, which I hadn’t (consciously) seen before – the long body is really conspicuous:

There was also this lovely red admiral:

Violet helleborines in the Lower Woods

A little over a week ago, the violet helleborines (Epipactis purpurata) in the Lower Woods finally came into flower. This is the very first one to flower (I had just walked past it in bud, and on my way back it had opened the lowest bud – what a treat!):

Soon the others followed – and now there’s an array of different shapes, sizes and colours around the woods. Here is a small selection:

I like it how some of the plants are serving as hotel rooms for little bugs:

I also saw wasps pollinating the plants – like on this pic:

While the violet helleborines are in their prime, the broad-leaved helleborines are almost over now (having said that, I found a plant with 4 stalks, two of which were over/almost over, one was in full flower and one was in bud!). Here’s picture of a broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) in its full glory:

The following picture is of a broad-leaved helleborine of the ‘albiflora’ variety – i.e. an albino without chlorophyll:

 

There is, of course, a lot else going on. Crickets in the long grass, Silver-washed fritillaries fighting peacocks and the last of the herb Paris clinging on – and so much else!

 

 

 

The time of the helleborines

Most types of helleborine are now starting to flower. Three I was lucky to see include this broad-leaved helleborine without chlorophyl (epipactis helleborine var. albiflora), which has just started to open the first few buds:

Right behind this plant grows a ‘regular’ broad-leaved helleborine, which has also just started to flower:

Finally, some of the narrow-lipped helleborines are now in full flower around the Cotswold Commons & Beechwoods – stunning!