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| Bee Orchid, Portland, June '18 (Copyright T D Wright) |
The first time I saw Bee Orchids (many years ago) I was surprised that they were so small (see comparison with human hand). "What's all the fuss about?" may have been my response back then. But now I get it; there were loads of people walking by, completely oblivious to their presence. Even for the experienced amateur naturalist they take a bit of effort to spot. But when you get your eye in, you start to find several in a small area and marvel at the fact that they are smaller than most of the bees they imitate. I don't often feature plants on this blog (that's Karen Woolley's territory!) but these turned out to be exceptional.
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| Rock Pipit, Portland, June '18 (Copyright T D Wright) |
I've also become a bit of a Rock Pipit fan. They are more co-operative for photography than Water, Tree or Meadow and will often feed within yards of us humans. They almost rival Robins for being confiding.
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| Rock Pipit, Portland, June '18 (Copyright T D Wright) |
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| Rock Pipit, Portland, June '18 (Copyright T D Wright) |
Even the Jackdaws were friendly...
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| Jackdaw, Portland, June '18 (Copyright T D Wright) |
AND there was a plant that doesn't photosynthesise. Broomrape I believe...
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| Broomrape, Portland, June '18 (Copyright T D Wright) |
So it's not dead; it just parasitises other plants and therefore lacks chlorophyll. But what am I doing?! The plants and insects are taking over my blog! Better get back down to Black Hole Marsh I reckon. We did have a seawatch off the bill that day and enjoyed decent views of Manxies, Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes. I've probably forgotten one or two species it's taken so long to post this. At least the photographs give us a record of past bird-days, don't they?
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