Sunday, 1 June 2025

Burnt Tips finally

I travelled over to the Chilterns recently to look for Burnt Tip Orchids, a species of Orchid I have not seen before having missed a single plant at in Wiltshire, 13 years ago. Whilst passing through Cambridgeshire villages, I saw a Corn Bunting perched on wires. After 2 and a half hours I thought, I had found the right spot and travelled down a private road and fortuitously bumped into a Field Club group who told me exactly where to find them over the hump of the distant high hill I could see. I drove back near a house where there was a parking spot for 2 cars, where I parked up and walked back down the road some 500 metres, then took a right turn taking a well worn path through a crop field. Then up some steps, bordering a beechwood and I walked left until the path opened out to hedgerow and field, I walked up to a sign saying Private road, so I turned right and up a hill bordering the reserve, I walked further up where I saw 2 young women sat near a turnstile, they kind stated I had to take the path left skirting the hill go over the hill and in the lee of the hill where the sheep were resting by the hedge was where the fenced off Orchids were. I walked up the steep slope and saw various coloured flags marking differing plants, I recognised the beginning of flowering Fragrant Orchids. Later on I came to the stone wall hedge where the ship were resting and directly to the left of that was a circular fenced off area with white stick marking the Burnt Orchid plants, around 40. seen in all. All were flowering and were quite tiny, whitish with the red burnt purple colouration at the top of their plant giving them their name. I managed to get a few shots. There was also a couple outisde the cage near a lower path, I also heard the jangling keys call of a Corn Bunting, but I couldn't see one, I also heard Yellowhammer and the call of a flying Lapwing but again not seen. I also found a further few Fragrant Orchids plus an unidentified Purple flower. As I walked back just before the entrance turnstyle on the left of the path a group of around 30 Spotted Orchids were seen. As I walked back I saw a decidous wood that looked perfect for helleborines I followed the fenced around for some 150 metres, I saw a wooden gate, climed over walked a further 30 metres and by the wood fence, I saw 5 White Helleborine plants, 4 flowering ones and 1 non- flowering one. Using the flash and darkening the exposure to -1 and 3/4 I managed a few pics. As I walked back to the path, I saw a Yellowhammer perched on wires singing away, too. As I drove back, I heard a further 3 Corn Buntings and saw 2 singletons on wires again along the Cambridgeshire roads.

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