To bee or not to bee...

Enough of Billy Waggledagger as we used to call him at school. How many bees?

Well only 17, so probably not bees as in the insects.

These...

...as in Bee Orchids. That's far more than we've found so far but they are in flower and that makes life a lot easier. Still tricky when they are secreted amongst taller vegetation.

Most had only one flower but this one has three and another bud looks like it gonan open during the next bout of summer sunshine.

Cute wee things I really like 'em.
And you get a cunning pollination strategy the 'bee' really does imitate a bee - even smells like one - to attract passing male bees. Trouble is we don't have that species here in the UK so how does it reproduce? Well it does a bit of self pollination and relies on some other dumb insects that don't kmow they're not bees. If you're thinking I just regurgitated that info straight off Springwatch I have to tell you I already knew it.

Little belters aren't they. One of my favourites; never tire of looking at them.

Support for the Bee Orchids came in the form of a lone Orange Hawkweed, its alternative name of Fox and Cubs is much more fitting. Another one of my favourites.

Where to next? Weekend safari to distant hills I think.

In the meantime it's orchid time - let us know what orchids are about your outback.

Garlic and bread?

More pics from Raf's Extreme Images, this time from the garden at base camp.


A male Blue Tailed Damselfly is watching over his mate laying her eggs in our pond.

Laying an egg...

Getting deeper...

Submerged...

All this action only 10 feet from the kitchen window.

But up on the garage roof a Herring Gull gets to serious grips with a chunk of stale garlic bread.

A totally handsome brute...

Whilst taking these pics we noticed a dollop of Fox doo-doo on the garage roof. A good leap required to get up there. Baited up with a chicken carcass for a photo opportunity but it disappeared during the dark hours.

Where to next? A trip out coming up soon.

In the meantime let us know what's been chomping your left-overs.

Oh it's hot hot hot

A hot day saw the safari wheel down south of the river to try to find the Sand Lizards. Guess what we failed miserably, but then in three years I worked on these dunes I saw one once and that only fleetingly so what do you expect in an afternoon. We did find some tracks, how did we know they were lizard tracks?...Seen loads in Australia.

We also found a lizard egg laying burrow but for some bizarre reason we didn't take a photo...

Another dune speciality is the Natterjack Toad. It lays its eggs in the seasonal dune 'slacks' to avoid competition from Frogs and Common Toads. But it is a risky strategy because the slacks can dry out before the tadpoles have had a chance to develop sufficiently to leave the water.

Frank did his best to flatten them. Poor dear was on his paws all day in that heat and the Hippo in him just came out.

There are some crackin' plants in the dunes too. Early Marsh Orchids were abundant but finding a decent specimen proved to be hard work many were either going over or had been squashed.

Northern Marsh Orchids, on the other hand, were looking at their very best.

And we came acroos this Helleborine which due to its position high on the side of a dune could well be Dune Helleborine - one of the worlds rarest plants, only found at a handful of sites in the country and nowhere particularly numerous. Unfortunately this individual has had its flower buds nibbled off, probably by a Rabbit, or perhaps a Slug.

White Satin moths were emerging all over the stands of the low growing Creeping Willow. There were thousands of them, all except one were female. This is the male with his featehry antennae.

Couldn't resist the on the finger shot.

This is the caterpillar

A Drinker moth caterpillar was a nice find. A biggy at about 75mm long (3 inches)

As well as moths with it being hot there were plenty of butterflies on the wing including a good number of Common Blues.

A movement on the ground drew our attention and at first we couldn't see anything but we did notice the little hole. Then after a couple of seconds this Wasp reversed out dumped a tiny pile of sand and disappeared back down to continue digging.

In a few places throughout the dunes we came across small groups of the rare Northern Dune Tiger Beetle. This species is only found on one other dune system in the UK but is still fairly common in Europe. Infuriatingly they have exceptional eyesight and the annoying habit of leapfrogging along the path in front of you just out of camera range. Patience was required to get any sort of a shot off.

An excellent day's safari and soon to be repeated I hope.

Where to next? Back on to more familiar territory I think as 20+ Bottle Nosed Dolphins were seen off shore recently...got to be worth a scan!!!!!!!

In the meantime let us know what is rare and exotic in your outback.

No need to go far

The safari was unfortunately trapped at Base Camp due to a vehicular malfunction (still unresolved!). We did have a treat for you but you will now have to wait until the end of July. We had to stay at home and look after Frank and the Pipster.

The garden at Base Camp is only small but is still a fine and dandy place to watch all manner of wildlife.

A hot sunny day with a clear blue sky and a slight breeze; the hum and murmur of bees and hoverflies were the only sounds. Couldn't hear the multitude of planes going over five miles up.

A Large Red Damselfly held territory over the pond seeing off the smaller Blue Tailed Damselflies.

The Blue Tails manage to breed in the pond despite the four huge Golden Orfes and the three Goldfish.

The Large Red needs to find a friend but it still an unsolved mystery as to where they appear from. Someone not to far away must have them breeding in their garden pond.

The moth trap was fired up over night and although far from bulging in the morning it was the best haul of the summer so far. below is one of the two Clouded Bordered Brindles.

This one is Dusky Brocade - don't you just love moth names!

And this little beauty is a Dark Spectacle. A very nice moth we've not recorded at Base Camp before.

He has a super little tuft.


And yes; he does wear glasses!!!

Painted Lady butterflies continued to pass through and there was a succession of Large Whites with a few Small Whites thrown in for good measure. Best butterfly however was a Holly Blue which seemed to be attracted to my lolly-ice but which eventually after much flittering around landed not on the ice cream but my hand and proceeded to sip the perspiration from my finger tip with its tiny tongue...it was so delicate I couldn't feel it as it walked arounfd the end of my finger...wow - but no camera, although if I had have moved I would probably have disturbed it anyway. But all that time I was still nibbling away at the lolly-ice - well I couldn't let it melt 'cos that would have made me all sticky.

A short trip out with Frank revealed a few spikes of Common Broomrape, a parasitic plant which has no need of photosynthesis and so has lost its green chlorophyll.

Plenty of Bush Vetch was in flower.

But best of all was spotting this budding Bee Orchid...the first we've managed to find in several trips despite there being several rosettes in the winter months. Have to wait until next week when we'll find all the ones we've missed easy as wink when they are in full flower. There is usually a good show at this site.

Again there were a lot of Painted Ladies, a Green Veined White, a couple of Speckled Woods and the safari's first pair of Common Blues of the summer.

Back at Base Camp it was getting pretty hot by mid afternoon and the animals had flaked out.
Frank flattened the Thrift as he found the only bit of shade in the garden.

Three Swifts screamed around overhead but I don't think they have spotted their new nest box yet. They seem to be quite scarce this year so far.

The plastic Coot is the worlds best garden pond ornament. He was left all alone in the shop as everyone went for the more colourful ducks...but I like Coots, definitely one of my favourites.

And he provided a bit of shade for a new Frog. This one is much bigger than the usual one that lives in the opposite corner of the pond.

Nicely marked with those blotches.

So there you go - trapped at home but still lots to see..and there was loads we didn't bore you with.

Where to next? Vehicle permitting there could be some good midweek safaris coming up.

In the meantime let us know what's lurking in your back yard.