Blagdons Meadow, 22nd June 2011

I headed off to Blagdons Meadow after finishing an early shift to hunt for bee orchids. There was a meeting at work at 6:30 to discuss the financial position of the trust but with the mood I am in and the crap week at work I am having I couldn't really give a shit so I thought my time would be better spent orchid hunting instead.

Blagdons meadow is only a small site but I have no idea where to look for the bee orchids or what I am looking for other than the photos and drawings of them I have seen in books. I wandered around for about an hour with no luck but they are apparently tempermental flowers and don't always appear at a site every year so I wasn't too disappointed at not seeing them. Maybe it is too early or maybe too late for them so I might try again in a few weeks time.

I did see 2 little egrets feeding along the river at low tide, a singing whitethroat and skylark, 2 adult starlings with 3 juveniles and swallows flying low over the grass, getting very close to me as I walked through the grass disturbing insects for them.

I also saw 3 six-spot burnet moths looking very moribund resting on clover flowers and a much more energetic burnet companion moth. Self heal flowers were seen and I noticed some in my front lawn on my return home.

Self Heal, Blagdons Meadow

 

So no luck with orchids today, better luck next time.