For How Long ?

Sat. 8th July 2017

                         The precious stretch of old pasture in the fields adjacent to our house is earmarked for building in the next few years so it looks as though the tapestry of orchids and wild flowers that the locals have loved so much will be gone for ever.

                    When the time arrives there will be a public consultation as to what can be done to protect these beautiful orchids which are multiplying each year. The demand for new houses puts this land under a lot of pressure even though it's Green Belt.

                   

   
              A mixture of Common Spotted And Southern Marsh orchids

                            A variant of the Common Spotted Orchid

                                           Southern Marsh Orchid

                          Soon this lovely area may be lost for ever

                         

TO MOW OR NOT TO MOW... that is the question

 Wed.5th July 2017
            I've just had a look round our local industrial estate this afternoon and there are extreme contrasts in the appearance of some of the local industrial units witch are surrounded by grassy areas. The grass that has been mowed looks tidy, neat almost a sterile desert but it does give a good impression  about the tidiness of the company to which it belongs.
whilst other companies the grassy ares have been left to grow and are full of Wild Flowers at least four species of Orchids, many Bees, Insects and quite a few Butterflies.
       I know that appearances and first impressions count but are the companies doing enough to support and preserve our flora  and wildlife on all the industrial estates the seem to be springing up all over our countryside?

                                     Mown within an inch of its life

 Left uncut, masses of Common Spotted Orchids amongst other wild flowers

               The first time in our area that I've seen Pyramidal Orchids
                                                     

                                    A Bee Orchid well past its best

                         Common Spotted Orchid ( white form)

                               My preference...grass left uncut

Purple Mountain Flower

12th March 2017
              We've just arrived home from our yearly visit to pen-y-ghent to find the Purple Mountain Saxifrage. Some clumps were opening but the full show will probably be around 10 days time. The weather was blustery with low cloud but not cold 8c. The saxifrage grows down to sea level in Northern Greenland and up to 10,000ft in the Alps and Rockies, it really is a true arctic alpine flower. 

Surprise Day Out

12th February 2017
                  Natural Surroundings...Wildlife-Friendly Gardens and Grounds, Cafe-Shop and Plant Sales. Natural Surroundings is just inland from Blakeney and Cley-Next-The-Sea in North Norfolk it is owned and managed by Anne and Simon Harrop either Anne and Simon are usually on site and are happy to offer help and advice.
       Anybody on holiday in the area should pay it a visit, you won't be disappointed.

SUCH A SUCCESS STORY

30th January 2017
                         The RIBBLE RIVERS TRUST spring conference was held on the 26th & 27th of March 2015 but it's taken me so long to complete the film because I couldn't film any salmon spawning until this Nov 2017.
      This is a short film showing just some of the many events that I've recorded over the last 5 years making the URBAN RIVERS ENHANCEMENT SCHEME in our local rivers such a success story.

A Great Achievement

24th December 2016
                                  A Very Happy Christmas to everybody. I have posted very little this year but I would like to share with you a short video that I've just finished editing. The footage was sent to Peter Chippendale over the internet from Switzerland by Walter Rossini a mountain guide who Peter hired and trained with in late August this year. Peter was successful and has fulfilled his dream of climbing the Matterhorn.
                  From the 3 hours of video that Walter filmed on a GoPro Helmet Camera located on both his helmet and ice axe ( he's to be congratulated on his coverage) I've tried to make this short video of the story leading up to this achievement spoken by Peter in his own words .
        This short film will be viewed on Christmas Day by Peter's Family.

On my local patch

23rd June 2016
          Just had a short walk this afternoon around my local patch  and found these two beautiful orchids .people were hurrying by without so much of a glance.

Southern Marsh Orchid .....our area is about its northern limit.

A haven for the insects

20th June 2016

I haven't posted much lately but at this time of year my modest back garden reaches its peak. The profusion of wild and garden flowers paints a random tapestry that is not easy to create and look natural.
       Every year about 100 wild orchids which have naturalised in the garden start to flower at this time of the year and I've noticed that there are more Marsh Orchids or Hybrids. I think they are the result of cross pollinating with the more Common Spotted Orchids I can tell them apart because of their more vigorous growth and size.

        A tapestry of wild and garden flowers which attracted the bees

 A more vigorous orchid with the same colouring as the Common Spotted Orchid but the flower lips resemble a Marsh Orchid
    What's unusual about this orchid, its tuber is constantly under the surface of the pond.

               Four more Marsh Orchids that have appeared this year.

                                      A large vigorous Hybrid

              This Hybrid is growing happily in the stone alpine trough

Outside my Window

14th May 2016
                       As a lover of the great outdoors and a passion for all the wonderful diversity of nature I came up with the idea of recording on video a year in my modest back garden as it transforms through the seasons. Very little was planned and I could only record the events of 2015 which was a little disappointing compared with the comings and goings of animals and birds in previous years. The sequences were shot between holidays in our motorhome so there are gaps in in the natural progression through the seasons, but never the less it was a relatively easy video to make because all the sequences took place literally "outside my window".

The New Wildlfe Pond

All our interests have a connection in various ways to the environment, the countryside and the wildlife, so it's not surprising that many of our friends also have very similar interests. Last year we were asked by two of our friends if we could help them install a wildlife pond in their already well established wildlife garden. This film is a record of the preparation and development of what we hope will be another wildlife attraction to their garden.

Weather Watching

Just a short post to show everybody that I'm still around , perhaps not posting about wild orchids because it seems to be a yearly repeat. My latest interest is being a local weather forecaster for the BBC Television Weather Service. If you have time to watch my short film all will be revealed.

The Southern Marsh Orchid is moving North

17th July 2015
               A couple of days ago I made a short film on the advancement of this beautiful orchid,which has colonised our area over the last few years. I made the film in a hurry and grammatically it is incorrect with a few errors in my deliverance to the camera, but because we were visiting two of our friends Frank & Janice (Janice is a keen wild orchid enthusiast) up in the Yorkshire Dales early yesterday it lacks a bit of polish but I'm sure that the main message that this orchid has advanced north shows in the film.

The Bee Orchids cling on

Saturday 27th June 2015
     A quick look around the grass verges on the local industrial estate in Burnley gave me some encouragement that as long as they don't mow the grass within an inch of it's life the wild orchids can cling on. I wonder how many of the hundreds of workers that pass this way every week notice these little gems down at ground level or are they too busy texting on their mobile phones welded to their hands.

The grass bankings on the approach to this well know aerospace factory where more than three species of orchid survive.

              Another site outside the council vehicle repair workshop

Amongst the hustle & bustle of  of the industrial estate these little beauties survive

Bluebells still in flower

Sunday 14th June 2015
              After a month away in our motor home, today on a short walk in our local area with two of our friends, I was a bit surprised to find the Bluebells still in full flower growing amongst the Red Campion on the north facing slopes of  Sadler Hill above Slaidburn. It's been a colder spring than average so the cool temperatures have prolonged the season . Today's temperature was only 11c and we're only a week from the longest day.

                                                 Sadler Hill

 We also noticed that the Water Aven and yellow Wood Aven ( herb bennet) growing together in woods in this picture, they had cross pollinated to produce a yellow Water Aven.

They've cross pollinated in my own garden so I don't think it's very uncommon.