Hartslock

I hurried up to Hartslock today during a gap in the rain and as I arrived the site looked superb - sunny and humid - the flies were buzzing around everywhere. I caught a few Exorista rustica (agg.) and saw some Tachina fera, Eriothrix rufomaculata and Phasia obesa.
Then is started to rain and I [...]

Sadly, the poor weather during April & May has led to most of the rare orchids going to seed early. All Lady orchids were in seed 1 week ago, the hybrids are nearly all over now (just one plant with a few decent florettes) and there are just a handful of Monkey orchids in flower [...]

I popped up to the reserve in the afternoon today to look for new orchids and to see if I could help out any visitors. I found 1 more new Monkey orchid near the top of the slope - bringing their total to 448 plants, of which 136 have been spotted flowering or trying to [...]

Today 22 members of the London Natural History Society (LNHS) visited Hartslock for the orchids and all other wildlife. We had glorious, hot, sunny  weather all day and it seemed as if everything came out to be photographed.
Monkey, Lady & the hybrids are all flowering very well at the moment and will probably continue to [...]

Went up to the site today for a walk round - plenty to see, even though the wind was still a bit chilly. The hybrids and the Lady orchids are flowering very well, with a few still in bud. The Monkey orchids are all still in bud with onloy a handful looking like they might [...]

Just popped up to the reserve, after a 2 week holiday abroad, to check the flowering situation. Looks like the recent rain has kept everything alive but the cold has really delayed the flowering by about 2-3 weeks (depending on species).
Lady orchids are in flower and the hybrids are just starting to flower, with quite [...]

The first part of the mapping, where we try to locate all previously recorded rare orchids, has finished - many thanks to Becca and all the other helpers!
The big news has been the massive increase in the number of hybrid Lady x Monkey plants - partly a real increase and partly due to some under-recording [...]

Today I went up to the reserve with Becca, a good friend of mine and one of the on-site wardens from years gone by. We concentrated on square A1, where most of the Lady orchids & Lady x Monkey hybrids are located.
It was pretty obvious from just a glance that we have many more hybrids [...]

My birthday today and it’s Easter Sunday so I was determined to get out of the house and enjoy the Spring weather.
The sun is just starting to get warm but today the clouds kept scudding across and the wind was a bit ‘more January than April’! That said, when I got out of the wind [...]