Followers

Saturday 23 May 2015

Kent Dukes and Orchids.

On Wednesday Nigel and I decided to head over to Kent for the Duke of Burgundy and some of  the Kent orchids. Although I had already seen the Dukes this year in West Sussex it is always good to see  some more and with the bonus of Lady, Man, Monkey and Fly Orchids it had to be a great day.

On arrival the weather was quite cool and dull but it was not long before a Duke was spotted among the many Lady Orchids. Following this plenty of Dukes were seen and the Lady Orchids were very numerous. Most of the Dukes were still in pretty good condition and the Lady Orchids were at their best.



Duke of Burgundy sitting on Primrose leaf, one of its foodplants.




Male Duke of Burgundy.




Lady Orchids.


Probably the star of the day was the White-spotted Sable. This is a tiny micro moth that is generally difficult to photograph as they are very active and being so small are not easy to follow in flight. They also often land under leaves making it even harder to refind them. I was very lucky to have one land on a grass stem and actually stay there. Although it had its wings folded back another moth a few minutes later settled in sight and with the wings spread.






The beautiful White-spotted Sable.


Unfortunately the Monkey Orchids were still not in flower yet but the Fly and Man were just showing enough for a few pictures. All these are probably 2 weeks behind where they were at last year, we did think that they would all be fully out by now. Having said that it was a great day and well worth the trip.




Fly Orchid.



Man Orchid.




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