Lost an owl found an orchid

The Safari had an hour between finishing in school and the sun going down so we headed round the corner from the school to the nature reserve.

We wanted to find the Bullfinches but had no success. We couldn't find the Long Eared Owls either but enjoyed some nice views of a small number of Redwings, quite a few Fieldfares and a lorra lorra Blackbirds enjoying the apples still on the trees.

Turning round to wander down to the view the water something, lordy knows what, made us look down and that had the strange result of spotting a Bee Orchid rosette! Looking more closely we soon found another five, can't remember if we've ever seen them before the New Year before. Good to see the grassland management there is working as it should be.

We've absolutely no idea if they'll be seen flowering in June though.

On the water a nice count of 31 Wigeon was made and a good number of Teal flushed off the island by something unseen, no sign of any Green Winged Teal - they have been seen 'this week' in the past.

Overhead about 150 Lapwings was a nice sight, a bit of cold weather movement perhaps?

Where to next? Back there again in the morning.

In the meantime let us know if there's any 'Yankees' in your outback.