16/05/2018 Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

Kittiwake: From Gosforth Park Nature Dawn and I headed across town to the world famous  Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art located on the south bank of the River Tyne alongside the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

Not only is the famous for contemporary art but for its breeding colony of kittiwake. I've often passed Newcastle but never actually stopped to see the city and I've always wanted to come a see its kittiwakes.

Easily mistaken for their the its more standard seagull cousins, the kittiwakes were first observed around the city in the 1940s.

Since then the breeding colony consists of around 750 active nests around Gateshead with 250 plus nests on the Baltic itself.


These are the only urban colony of kittiwakes in the UK and the furthest inland breeding colony in the world, and unfortunately they are not loved by some of the locals.

Unfortunately they face a potential war. these pretty little gulls have now been condemned as an obstacle to the riverside's award-winning regeneration.

They are condemned for their noise levels and mess as described as a"nightmare" and "horrendous".

These special birds should be cherished, kittiwakes are causing concern internationally after several poor breeding years in their North Atlantic strongholds.

A shortage of their staple prey, sand eels, has coincided with an increase in their main predator, the great skua. Breeding pairs in northern Scotland, home to the main UK population, fell by more than half to 23,000 in the past two decades and recovery has been slow.

The birds are on almost every high ledge and building in the area and they nest on the ledges of the iconic Millennium Bridge.

This is a great place to come and see them peeking through the blueish raw iron posts and roosting on the ledge just below the public pathway.

Its also a good vantage point to observe the birds flying around the city skyline.

I simply loved them, they for me enhance a great vibrant city and hope they have a long future nesting here.

16/05/2018 Gosforth Park Nature Reserve, Newcastle upon Tyne

Coralroot Orchid: (Corallorhiza trifida) Another amazing rare orchid, this time the coralroot, so named because its rhizomes are said to look like clumps of coral. It has no 'true' roots; instead it has tufts of hairs on which the mycorrhizal fungi live. The plant is totally dependent on the fungi, which the plant would die without.

I found this orchid on my birthday mini-trip away to the North East, with out first stop in Newcastle.

After calling the  Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) office and unknowingly talking to James Common, who was very helpful in giving me some information on the reserve and the location of the orchid.

NHSN members and other volunteers have been improving the habitat on Gosforth Park Nature Reserve for the past 80 years, with funds coming from DEFRA and other private donors.

The reserve has a shallow lake, extensive reed bed and mixed woodland and is scientifically important for its uncommon flora and fauna including bittern, kingfisher, otter, red squirrel, coral-root orchid and purple hairstreak butterfly.

This ecological importance has been recognised with its designation as a Local Wildlife Site and Wildlife Corridor, while the southern half of the reserve has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Great birthday gift to myself!

For more infomation about this brilliant little reserve chcek out the link below.


http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/resources/gosforth-park-nature-reserve/

13/05/2018 Cilburn Moss, Cumbria

 Lesser Twyblade: (Neottia cordata) The phrase "good things come in small packages" has never been so appropriate, these super tiny lesser twayblades were superb a real joy to behold.

After getting some help with directions from a fellow orchid enthusiast on Twitter, Dawn and I decided to spend the day in Cumbria in search of these tiny beauties.

These tiny orchids are particular difficult to find not just because of its diminutive size, but also because it grows in woodlands in the dark shady, humid sites between and underneath taller plants including heather and bilberry and silver birch.

It was funny as almost soon as Dawn and I stepped out of the car we were approached by two other orchid hunters in search of the tinny twybales.  Asking for directions I pointed then in the right area, not overly sure on specifics myself.


The couple were lovely and very knowledge about orchids and both set off ahead of Dawn and I.

When we arrived there was another person togging the orchids a Mr Dr Richard Bate, another recent twitter follower who has been kind enough to some of his vast knowledge of orchids.







I was stunned to how small these rare orchids are no bigger than 3-4cm tall, the plant is distinctive in having only two leaves (which gives rise to its common name), and these are heart-shaped (hence the specific, scientific name 'cordata').

These glossy green leaves occur about one third of the way up the stem, opposite each other.

Very occasionally there can be a third leaf, growing further up the stem, and below the flowers. The leaves have a distinct central rib (like in this image)



Orchid hunting with my loved one, no better day spent then finding rare and beautiful plants, eating ice cream and sitting in the sun.

07/05/2018 Hartslock Nature Reserve, Oxfordshire

Lady Orchid: (Orchis purpurea) Let me open with a brief introduction to Hartslock Nature Reserve. This is by far one of the most beautiful little places I have had the pleasure of visiting. It's located on the north side of the Thames between Whitchurch and Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. .

The reserve is stunning with breath-taking views of the unimproved chalk downland hills overlooking the river Thames and is full of rare beauties.

 Little Hartslock Nature Reserve has now and its surrounding area a beem designated ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’ (SSSI) and the whole Goring Gap region is an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (AONB).

One of the rare orchids little Hartslock is known for its the lady's orchid, second to lizard orchid the lady orchid is the biggest orchid we have in Britain.





The sepals and upper petals are known to be purple, hence the lady orchid adopting the Latin name purpurea. The lady orchid gets its name from its sepals and upper petals shapes as they are known to resemble a lady wearing a white dress and purple bonnet.


The orchid family has adapted wonderfully for cross pollination, with the flowers’ complex shapes primary function being to ensure that its own pollen does not reach its own stigma. In turn insects and other pollinators have adapted to the shape of specific orchids.

Hybrid Lady x Monkey Orchid: (Orchis purpurea x O. simia) Hartslock is famous for the monkey and the lady x monkey hybridised orchids found in recent years.

I've read on the Hartslock Nature Reserve website that back in 1997/1998 they first discovered an orchid rosette that was much more vigorous than a normal monkey orchid. And only it 2002 it flowered for the first time and they discovered that it was a lady orchid (Orchis purpurea).

In subsequent years they monitored several more lady orchid rosettes and a few others that seemed slightly different but it wasn’t until 2006 when one flowered that we discovered that they had something really quite different and very exciting.

Here is a  plant that had the stature of a lady orchid but the flower colour and to a degree shape of a monkey orchid.

So these lady x monkey orchids exhibit features from both original parent pants, for example the hybrids are much larger and more vigorous than the normal monkey orchid and much closer in form to the lady orchid and predominately the hood is strongly speckled, like that of a lady orchid.

 They also have an earlier flowering period, five days after the lady orchids and one week before the bulk of the monkey orchids.

Met lost of friendly visitors while enjoying the blazing heat of the sun and the wonderful spectacle of the orchids. Thanks to those who kept me company, even if for a short while.

Grizzled Skipper: Hartslock is also home to the particularly scares grizzled skipper a butterfly with a checkered type pattern across its wings and the dingy skipper, a duller and but equally scares butterfly.

Both of which I saw along with plenty of brimstone, speckled wood, green hairstreak, small copper to name just a few.

Small Copper: I could have spent hours exploring the orchid patch but in this beautiful setting, sitting in the sun and gabbing away with the locals. But with the bank holiday traffic on my mind I thought I should make a move.

Green Hairstreak: Big shout out to Chris Raper, the wonderful warden of this wonderful Hartslock Nature Reserve. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the skippers.

Pasque Flower: (Pulsatilla vulgaris) vulgaris alright, they super bright flowers stand out across the swaths of green grasses of the chalk hill.
The golden yellow anthers at the flower’s centre are a perfect contrast to the velvet-textured purple petals. These are worth travelling miles to see, even if these particular flowers are from an introduces stock.

I look forward to visiting again.

05/05/2018 Samphire Hoe Country Park, Kent

Early-spider Orchid:  (Ophrys sphegodes) This species of orchid is mainly found on the south coast of England along the beautiful coastlines of  Dorset, Sussex and Kent. They flowers from late March until early June. It has a preference for locations near the sea, and one of its favourite places in Samphire How in Kent.

So, during my bank holiday weekend while staying at my mums in Essex I took the opportunity to take a drive out and visit one of England’s newest pieces of land, made from chalk marl, excavated from the Channel Tunnel.

Samphire Hoe has quickly become one of the world’s rarest habitats of chalk grassland and a haven for wildlife.

Upon arriving I deposited my donation for the parking and had a chat with some people who worked there who kindly pointed me in the direction of the rare orchid.


"Down by the dog poo bin" they said.


Spot on, right besides the bin were about six spires still in good condition, with another eight or so along the track.

These stunning, curious rare orchids get their name from the spider like shape they form, complete with an abdomen, head and even a pair of eyes.

This appearance is purely coincidental and a man made connection. It has nothing to do with attracting spiders to pollinate it! They are pollinated by small solitary wasps and bees.

Great little plant.

I did spot the beginnings of another orchid and one of particular interest was this orchid rosette. I'm unsure how to tell apart the rosettes of early-purple and common spotted orchids, but the thinner, fleshier rosette here makes me lean towards it being an common spotted.

I did have a long look for the early-spider orchid that lacks most of the anthocyanin that gives it colour and make the plant look pale, almost yellow in appearance (Ophrys sphegodes var. flavescens) but I was able to track it down.


Special thanks to Wild Orchids UK & Ireland @ukorchids who were a huge help giving me reliable information.

Fuerteventura Trip Report

Red-billed Tropic Bird: Damion Young, Gary Edwards, Patrick Earith and I, all North West birders, planned a trip to Fuerteventura to tick off some of its special birds.

The island of Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands, is home to its own unique endemic bird, the Canary Islands stonechat, and is probably the best place in the world to see the endangered Houbara Bustard.

Houbara Bustard: Three further Macaronesian endemics - plain swift, Berthelot's pipit and Atlantic canary - occur on the island and other specialities include cream-coloured courser, black-bellied sandgrouse, African blue tit and trumpeter finch.

Trumpeter Finch: We had a very successful trip, with all targets except Barbary falcon and the canary seen, and we couldn't ague with the superb view we had of the birds, especially the tropic bird and bustard.

Canary Islands Stonechat: The undoubted highlight was how lucky we got to see the tropic bird at such close range. Possibly one of the best breeding birds in Europe.

Berthelot's Pipit: If you would like to see a lot more images and read about our trip, please click on the link below or see my holidays trip reports at the foot of my blog.

https://austinmorley.blogspot.co.uk/p/fuerteventura-april-2018.html