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Here is a few shots I took this morning of the Greater Butterfly Orchids at Elmsthorpe Plantation near Hinckley. Due to the flash on the camera most the flowers were bleached out!!

Early Purple Orchids at Pickworth Great Wood. Here is a couple of shots of Early Purple Orchid at Pickworth Great Wood in Rutland I took in early May.

The Drunkbirder and Mr Llama photographing a Monkey! Monkey Orchid Monkey/Lady Orchid Hybrid Another shot of a Monkey! Hartlock- the place for a Monkey! Over the weekend, myself, John Hague and Andy Mackay travelled down to Chilterns to look for a variety of wildlife which included Orchids, Dragonflies and Butterflies. First stop of the day was the River Thames at Goring, Oxfordshire to look for Club-tailed Dragonfly . Over the next hour or so we checked the river side, but the Club-tailed eluded us except for a very brief view which Andy and John saw before I could get on it. Walking back along the Thames footpath to Hartlock NR we finally connected with a couple of Club tails as there hunting over the surrounding area. Other sightings we saw along the river path included good numbers of Banded Demoiselles and a bit of a surprise was a couple of Painted Lady Butterflies (More of them later). Walking up the steep hill from the river footpath to Hartlock reserve, we soon found a few M...

After finishing my final assignment for University mid morning, I noted on my pager that 3 Black Terns had been reported at Cropston Reservoir. So before handing in my assignment I nipped over to Cropston to see the terns. Arriving at the dam, I met up with Paul (one of the Groby crew) as he was scanning the reservoir. Straight away I picked up a couple of Black Terns flying around the reservoir and then I noticed a couple of smaller terns as there flew past. I knew straight away that there Little Terns due to there size and build. I shouted to Paul to get on terns which he did, and then I scanned through the other terns feeding over the reservoir, and noted that there was 2 adult Little Terns , 3 Black Terns , up to six Arctic Terns and a single Common Tern just feeding off the dam. As this was a good count of Terns I phoned the news out. Watching the Terns for the next half an hour, the majority moved off when the weather improved, but the Black Terns did stick around until the e...

Common Twayblade at Tottenhoe Knolls. Duke Of Burgundy Butterfly at Bison Hill, Bedfordshire. Another shot of the Duke Of Burgundys Views of Ivinghoe Beacon. Myself and John took an early morning trip down to Dunstable in Bedfordshire to see if we could find Duke of Burgundy Butterfly. Arriving early, possibly too early, we decided that maybe the local Mcdonalds was a better call, as it was quite cold at first port of call Bison Hill, near Whipsnade Zoo, and the butterfly active was non- existent. So after an excellent McDonalds breakfast we retraced our steps and checked out another site not far from the nearby Bison Hill at Tottenhoe Knolls. Over the next couple of hours or so we looked over this site and sightings included 2 Dingy Skipper , a Common Blue and good numbers of the commoner butterflies. Also I noted that there must have been in excess of 100 odd Common Twayblades in the surrounding hillsides. Although it's not the most appealing orchid on the British list, the fl...

Adder's Tongue Fern at Merry's Meadow LRWT. Green winged Orchids at Merry's Meadow LRWT. Cattle Egret on Lagoon 1 at Rutland Water. Although I had seen the Cattle Egret at Rutland Water briefly the previously day, I nipped over to Rutland again to see if I could get some digishots of the Cattle Egret and take some photos of the local Green winged Orchids at the nearby Merry's Meadow LRWT. Arriving at the Egleton reserve I was soon taking some record shots of the Cattle Egret as it feed around the cattle opposite mallard hide. Pleased with the record shots of the Egret I then drove over to Greetham to check out Merry's Meadow. At this site I counted at least 500+ Green winged Orchids in the surrounding meadowland and small numbers of the cute looking Adder's Tongue Fern . Whilst at this site I received a message from Andy Mackay of a possible Wood Warbler at Victoria park in the centre of Leicester, and could I possible check it out? As I was driving home that...

Two shots of Lady Orchids and four shots of Early Spider Orchid included the rare form Var.flavescens . Leaving Leicester at around 6.00am, myself, Ben Croxtall and Pete Jessop arrived at Dungeness just after 9.00am. The first target of the day was the long staying Crested Lark which had been at this site for the last few days. Within ten minutes of leaving the car we saw the Lark fly over our heads as it landed in the area which the locals call "the desert". The bird was quite mobile for the next couple of hours as it flew around the desert being moved by the large crowd of twitchers. Then after a short period of time Ben suddenly picked up the lark slowly walking over a piece of shingle. With more directions from Ben the group finally saw the Lark on the deck. Get in Crested Lark OMFL!!! Pleased with finally seeing the bird on the deck we decided to have a look on the sea with hopefully seeing the odd Skua or Shearwater going by? Watching the sea over the next half an ho...