Indiana Dave and the Monkey/Lady Orchid and a few Painted Ladies!!

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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 Monkey Orchids next to the entrance of the reserve.
At this point we took a number of photos of the delightful Monkey Orchids!!
Walking further onto the reserve I noted good numbers of Common Twayblade on the lower slopes, then more Monkeys and then the Monkey/Lady Orchid Hybirds on the upper slopes of the reserve.
I was a little surprised of the size the Monkey/Lady hybirds as I imagined them to be smaller from the previous photos I had seen.
Another reason to visit Hartlock was to look for Adonis Blue which Andy and John were keen to photo, however possible due to the last few weeks of bad weather and the habitat not beening cropped short enough we could not find any Adonis Blues.
Other butterfly sightings we did see included a few Dingy Skippers, Common Blues and now good numbers of Painted Ladies migrating north.
Walking back to the car we made a slighty detour to check out the small wood next to the reserve.
Here we found good numbers of White Helleborines, with a couple right next to the footpath.

Move to follow shortly...................................

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