30 Days Wild | Day 9 - commute orchids

For day 9 of 30 Days Wild I checked in on some orchids growing by the canal towpath that I walk to work along. I first came across them during last year's 30 Days Wild so now I know they are there, I've been keeping my eye on them over the past few weeks and watching their progress. They've just started flowering within the last couple of days and are looking lovely! I think there is one Common Spotted and two Southern Marshes. The Southern Marshes are growing behind a somewhat unattractive fence so my photos aren't the best, but the orchids themselves are very attractive indeed. After I photographed them I continued along the towpath, hearing a Chiffchaff and a Whitethroat singing, and spotting one of the University of Birmingham Peregrines soaring overhead - hopefully they've got chicks up in the clock tower!

Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

Southern Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

30 Days Wild | Day 7 - Bee Orchid quest & an escapee plant!

On day 7 of 30 Days Wild I was volunteering at EcoRecord, for the last time before I start my new job. I've only been volunteering there since April but it's given me experience that I think was probably crucial in helping me gain my new job and I've really enjoyed it! I wasn't sure yet what I would do for 30 Days Wild today but in the end actually did a couple of things.

In the morning as I was walking from Five Ways railway station in Birmingham to the Wildlife Trust offices (where EcoRecord are based), I spotted an interesting plant growing in a bit of waste ground next to the pavement. It didn't look like anything I'd seen before so I took a couple of photos. I showed it to a few people in the office at the Wildlife Trust and the consensus was that it looked like a garden escape of some kind. Luckily Ian Trueman popped in later in the morning and he helped narrow things down by suggesting that it looked like something from the Scrophulariaceae (Figwort) family. With this information and Google I identified it as probably Moroccan Toadflax (Linaria maroccana) which is indeed a fairly common garden plant that comes in many colours.

Moroccan Toadflax (Linaria maroccana).

Moroccan Toadflax (Linaria maroccana).

At lunchtime Andy, James and I took a short walk out of the office to a nearby grass verge. Last year Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera) had been discovered growing here and they were back! A small area had been left unmowed at the top of the bank and there were three Bee Orchids growing there with perfect flowers. I think if more of the bank hadn't been mowed there would maybe have been more orchids too. 

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera).

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera).

30 Days Wild | Day 15 - orchid mayhem, then time to relax!

For Day 15 of 30 Days Wild, I was looking forward to relaxing a bit. I thought things would calm down after my oceanography exam last week but what with various things piling up while I was doing revision, and more things cropping up subsequently, I hadn't really had any chance to chill out. So I'd planned to set some time aside to sit out in the garden and read on Day 15.

Before that though, while I was walking to work in the morning, I was on the lookout for the orchid I'd found last week. Not only did I see it, but I discovered a further two orchids nearby which must have started flowering over the weekend! I'm fairly certain now that the first one I found was a Southern Marsh-orchid, and of the two I found yesterday, one was a Southern Marsh and the other a Common Spotted.

Today's new discoveries - had to hoist myself up a steep bank via a tree branch to get closer photos!

Last week's Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) is now in full flower.

Newly-discovered Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

Newly-discovered Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

I came across the Orchid Observers project via Twitter yesterday so am going to submit my sightings to that too.

Once I'd got home, I was ready for some chill-out time. But what to read? I've a large stack of books awaiting attention, seeing as I rarely have any time for reading things that aren't Open University textbooks. In the end I went for browsing my brand new copy of the BTO Collins Guide to British Birds. This arrived a couple of weeks ago and is excellent, it uses bang up-to-date distribution data from the Bird Atlas, has amazing and carefully-chosen photographs, and includes loads of super-handy identification tips. My favourite features are the calendar wheels, which show the likelihood of the species being seen in the UK month-by-month, and the 'default species' section - a set of common species from each main group, once familiar with these they can be used as a yardstick by which to identify other less common species.

Mmmmm.

After half an hour enjoying this in the garden, with House Sparrows chirruping in the bushes and House Martins fluttering overhead, I was feeling much calmer and ready to crack on with the rest of my evening!

30 Days Wild | Day 11 - orchid discovery!

As I was walking my usual route to work on day 11 of 30 Days Wild, I was as ever keeping my eyes peeled for plants, birds, butterflies and the like. Today I spotted something I'd never seen along the canal towpath before, and I made myself late for work stopping to inspect and photograph it!

It was an orchid, growing at the top of a sparsely-vegetated dry-looking bank next to the path. This bank, like a lot of the verge alongside the towpath, was recently disturbed - just under a year ago the whole length of the towpath was resurfaced and the verges were consequently churned up and left pretty much as bare soil. Now all kinds of random stuff is popping up! I don't know if this is any contributary factor in the orchid's appearance - I've only been commuting along this route since August last year so don't know what was growing there before that.

I wasn't sure about the identification of the orchid. It looks to me most like a Southern Marsh-orchid, but my orchid knowledge is very limited. Certainly it isn't growing in a marshy spot, if anything the bank it is on looks rather dry, but looks can be deceiving and orchids are known for their wayward nature! Can anyone more experienced in the ways of orchids shed any light?

Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa). Maybe.

Stumbling across something unexpected like this is like finding treasure for me - all of nature is precious, but when I find something like this in a place I wasn't expecting it, it's a real treat! It's what keeps nature interesting - there is always something new to see.