I've got a bit behind with my Gnome blogging as this actually happened back in March. In order to catch up I've also combined it with a low key trip up to Durham.
It just shows how out of the orchid loop I am that the first I heard about the Oxfordshire Giant Orchids (which must surely be common knowledge by now) was through reading about them on EU's blog. To be honest, I didn't even know that Giant Orchid was "a thing" as I'm not really a hardcore enthusiast. Still I do keep and work on a British orchid list and here was something to go and see at a time when it was generally rather quiet so it would be rude not to go. I therefore arranged to meet up with EU at the undisclosed location one morning as he was keen to go back for another visit. I arrived to find PL and a friend of EU's also in tow so the four of us duly set off on a leisurely 10 minute stroll to the orchid site.
I'd been warned to bring along a stick as the orchids were sited on a very steep bank. This turned out to be no exaggeration - it was remarkably steep! There was one obvious large plant quite close to the path so we all started by admiring that one.
 |
| The largest Giant Orchid specimen - you can get a sense of the steepness of the bank from this shot! |
 |
| The same plant from a less "artistic" angle |
After that I went off to rumage around and see how many others I could find. It was hard work negotiating the steep and treacherous slope and I was thankful that I'd brought a sturdy stick with me. After much searching the final tally was 4 blooms and 5 rosettes in total, all much smaller than the large first one we'd been admiring.
 |
| The other blooms were smaller and less spectacular than the largest one. This is a typical example |
Apparently the orchids were first found last year by a local and were the first for Britain. They are fairly common on the continent where they can grown up to a metre tall but the largest one here was a fraction of that size. They are very early flowering for the orchid family and normally finish flowering by the end of March though these one were just getting underway so were late this year. It was good to get another orchid tick under my belt that was so close to home! Let's hope that they flourish in their new found home.
Durham Dipping
I also want to blog about a recent trip
up to Durham to fetch my eldest daughter back for Easter. She wanted me
to bring the car in order to take some of her stuff back. She's been
living there in the same house for a couple of years and has now
accumulated more than one car journey's worth of stuff which she's going
to need to bring home at some point.
Having cast around for something to twitch, the obvious candidate was the long-staying Richardson's Cackling Goose what was about half an hour away from Durham. It had been frequenting the same field for a couple of weeks and looked pretty nailed down. The only trouble was that it was now April, the time when Pink-footed Geese (the carrier species in this case) think about departing. So it was a nervous wait in the days leading up to my trip. Still the day before my journey it was still there. Surely it could hang on one more day, couldn't it?
The short answer is that, no, it couldn't. The day of my trip coincided with a sudden change in the weather which warmed up and the chilly prevailing northerly winds finally abating. Of course the geese took the opportunity to head off overnight with this change in conditions and there was not a single goose to be found at all. I failed to find any on the day of my trip up to Durham and even checked again the next day but all to no avail.
Instead, with there having been a general clear-out of all birding interest in the area there was not much compensatory birdage to be had at all. Accordingly, I decided to explore some of the Northumberland sea locations that I'd long read about in RBA news alerts but had never actually visited. So on the first day I went to Seaton Sluice and had a wander about. The second day I went to St. Mary's Island and had a pootle around there. It was nice seeing these locations in the lovely sunny weather and I made the best of it though, if I'm honest, this dip still really smarts as I write this. But that's birding I suppose.
Anyway, below are some photos from the trip.
 |
| Seaton Sluice |
 |
| Spring Starflower growing on the clifftop at Seaton Sluice |
 |
| Seaton Sluice Eider |
 |
| Drake Mandarin on the River Wear in Durham |
 |
| St. Mary's Island |
 |
| Distant & blurry Purple Sandpipers at St. Mary's Island |
So that's twice now I've dipped Richard's Cackling Goose. I dare say I'll eventually catch up with it but it is fast being elevated to the status of bogey bird.
It seems that my eldest daughter might stay up in the North East to do a post doc which will mean a few more years of visiting the area. Hopefully this will mean some more good birds as well.
