I Love Arnside and Silverdale: Snippets of Wealth - Monday 22nd July 2019 - Hutton Roof - Epipactis atrorubens/Epipactis helleborine

Tuesday, 23 July 2019

Snippets of Wealth - Monday 22nd July 2019 - Hutton Roof - Epipactis atrorubens/Epipactis helleborine

Diary page for Monday 22nd July 2019 Hutton Roof Epipactis plus

Goldenrod

On my way to the Orchid grounds whilst going through the copse, I had a small party of Willow Warblers creating alarm from parent to youngsters with their "hou-wit" calls, other than this things are so quiet with the birds at the moment.

Odd butterflies in more sheltered areas included Green Veined White, Meadow Browns, odd Ringley, and lots of Grayling whilst on the orchid grounds.

Exceptional winds today, but managed a few photos. The Black Aphids and their attendant ants are a absolute nuisance and somehow getting on lots of our little treasures.

The E.helleborines are now progressing nicely and lovely to still see plenty of plumes still intact and not succumb to the local deer or Brown hares.

The atrorubens are all but finished, you can still find the odd one which is still OK but getting few and far between!

Spent most of my time this afternoon surveying and mapping out and quantifying the E.helleborines and did manage to do 1/3rd of the study area with a result so far of 62 specimens (only counted specimens with full grown spikes - my last full survey on 27th July 2017 I recorded 88 active and 48 predated - total of 136), so it looks like it is going to be a far better year....