Peter Jones Wildlife blog

Travelled to Pewley Down on the edge of Guildford, where Man Orchids have been reported. Took a while to track them down, more unlucky than incompetence today! But eventually found some nice plants. Some other nice wildlife in this small area with Small Blue butterfly the highlight. Closer to home, I made the dog walk across Baddesley Common this evening, where I was just too late last year, finding Orchids too far gone to identify. I suspected Southern Marsh, and confirmed today, 11 month later! with 4 small spikes just coming into flower.

This was probably one of my best weekends ever watching wildlife.  We always go out with targets in mind but rarely see them all, (bar one!), plus more. I set off Friday night, slept in the campervan and was at Hartslock Saturday morning. I  failed to see a Clubtail Dragonfly on the way to the orchid site, but once at Hartlock the spectacle was superb with tiny Monkey Orchids and huge Lady-Monkey hybrids. On my way back to my van I was lucky enough to find a Clubtail Dragonfly emerging out of the River Thames. Had superb views of it's wings enlarging for an hour and a half. Hunger got the better of me and I left it to finish the process alone. Next stop was Homefield wood where the Military Orchids were showing very well, also Fly Orchid White Helleborine and Birds nest Orchid was a bonus, although the latter wasn't very well developed. My final destination for Saturday was Knocking Hoe nature reserve near Luton. This is a superb little reserve with Pasque flowers in the hundre

Very pleased, after finding over a dozen old larvae cases, to find a Clubtail Dragonfly emerging from larvae on the bank of the Thames at Goring. A slideshow illustrating the rapid growth, especially of the wings below. The wings grew from stumps to full size in about 40 minutes. https://youtu.be/V_1GperniCU

Quite a common, widespread flower, which I couldn't find in flower this year, but stumbled across a couple locally just turned to seed. One to visit earlier next year.

A morning walk at Martin Down. I happened to be in the area. Burnt Orchid is fast becoming a jinx for me. This the 4th time I have failed to find. Did hear Turtle Dove, which was nice, and a few clumps of Star of Bethlehem.

Tried another reptile survey this morning. My survey square is very unpredictable, and can either be crawling  with reptiles, or in today's case, totally devoid of any. Picking the ideal weather is hard with a day job, but this must be a key factor. So, onto Corfe Mullen, where at least the Green-winged Orchids were out in full force. A very impressive sight, and one species, I've always wanted to see. (Are there any orchids that don't rank in the most wanted lists!)

Dog walks can be enjoyable when they involve a lifer! My first Cream spot Ladybird

A pretty good dog walk this afternoon, a loop through woodland south of where I live. The dog is pretty useless when I'm searching for birds and animals, but he is yet to flush a flower, so we both benefit. Lots about today, the highlights being Solomon's Seal, quite common round these parts, Lily of the Valley, and Yellow Pimpernel, see pics. I had heard, via the local Facebook page, of Orchids along the woodland paths in May, but a search today didn't yield any results. Plenty of Bugle, which could be mistaken I guess, or maybe I'm a little early still.