Little Men?

The roadside Man Orchids, not far from Coldred are beginning to come into flower.

I didn't have very long to check the bank but there didn't seem as many spikes this year as there were last year, but the grass is quite long and a better search might find some more.

There are a few in to woodland behind and for some reason these seemed to be a bit further advanced. It takes a bit of imagination to see the man shape in these little florets , but one or two look as if they could have been in The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus (a strange play I saw at the National, adapted from a book by Tony Harrison)

In the wood White Helleborines are flowering beautifully, although I found it difficult to convey the subtle, delicate nature of the flowers in a picture.

White Helleborine

It is a shame that the Orchid season seems to fly by so quickly. The grassland at Lydden that was full Early Purple Orchids and Cowslips just a couple of weeks ago, is now full of seed heads.

Flame Wainscot

Mothing hasn't been that special so far this year, but this morning I had a nice surprise in my Actinic trap, this beauty was waiting for me. I knew I hadn't seen one before and a scan through the field guide showed it to be a Fame Wainscot. In Ken it is a scarce immigrant, and as far as I know the last one recorded in Kent was at Dungeness 2nd June 2005, although there may be some others I've not heard about. It certainly is the first record for here and that brings the garden total of Macro Moths to 395. so not far to go to the magical "Lara" number.