Welcome to my blog. My name is Sean Locke from Norwich and I am autistic. But this does not stop my passion for nature and wildlife. I am a volunteer for RSPB Strumpshaw Fen and I also help out at Mousehold Heath with surveys and I birdwatch whenever I can. Since 2011, i have been writing a wildlife diary filled with my adventures, drawings and photos. Now i have decided to go online to share with you all.
With the success of finding the military and man orchids earlier this week, I was hoping to discover a few more at Strumpshaw today. As I knew the best spots on the reserve for orchids, it wasn't hard for me to locate them. In fact, the chicken wire cages made things even easier for the common twayblades. This is one of the commonest species in the UK and one that's often overlooked mainly because it is green and blends in with the vegetation.
Common Twayblade
Common Twayblades have two oval or egg-shaped leaves, a tall stem and several greenish yellow flowers that look like two blades crossing each other or a pair of scissors. To me though, they look like tiny green men. In the middle of each flower is a groove that has a little bit of sweet substance that lures the pollinator to the top of the flower. Here, lies a special tongue-like mechanism called the rostellum. When the insect touches it, the rostellum explodes the pollinia (orchid pollen) in a blob of sticky liquid that dries in seconds. This explosive release startles the insect and causes it to fly away, to another twayblade to pollenate it. It maybe green and easily overlooked, but its an orchid you should pay closer attention to next time you see some shady undergrowth.
Another great place to see orchids at Strumpshaw is the meadow trail. I went for a quick scan around. The meadow fields aren't a pallet of colour just at this moment in time. A few red bartsia are peeking out of the grass, but not much in the form of an orchid. However, I did manage to spot just two pink spikes of a member from the marsh orchid family. This family of orchids are scientifically known as the genus Dactylorhiza. Dactyl meaning finger-like and Rhiza meaning roots. This is a notoriously confusing group of orchids, which not only look very similar but also loves to hybridise with one another, too. I'm expecting a lot of headaches working out which member of this family I'm looking at throughout this summer.
Early Marsh Orchid
After a quick study on the two candy pink orchids in the meadow, I came to the conclusion that these are early marsh orchids. Once I had finished taking photos and making the video about them, I went back to the office where I spent some time trying to convince Strumpshaw warden Ben that these were indeed early marsh orchids. He told me that they don't grow at the reserve anymore. However, after comparing my photos with southern orchid photos online and me pointing out the differences, he soon changed his mind. You see, early marsh orchids have plenty of flowers, each appearing rather narrow in shape with upright sepals that look like bunny ears. My orchids seemed to be matching the description. I just hope I'm correct about it though.
Scarce Chaser
Away from orchids, it was a bit of a quiet day wildlife wise today. I still haven't seen a swallowtail yet despite the fact that we are in the peak of their season and that they have been seen from the nectar garden in recent days. I guess it wasn't quite warm enough for them today? At least there were a few other insects on the garden's plants, including a scarce chaser dragonfly perching on a sweet rocket flowerhead. I also saw a bittern fly out from reeds by the far left channel, making its way towards the river before plunging back down into the reeds again.
The man orchid is perhaps the rarest of Norfolk's orchids and one that I have been anticipating the most since creating my list. So when I heard that they were now in bloom and that they don't stay in flower for more than a couple of days, I had to go see them as soon as possible. In Norfolk, there is only one site to see them and as they are so rare, I can not tell you where I went today to see them in order to protect them from collectors.
Just like the military orchid that I saw yesterday, the man orchid is another one of those orchids that you have to use your imagination to see the figures that give the species its name. As with the military orchid, the sepals form a hood or the man's 'head' or 'hat', while the lip forms the man's 'body', 'arms' and 'legs'. The flowers are yellow and sometimes have a red edge to them and can form a tall spike of up to 50 'little men' attached to it.
The weather was not always on our side as my dad and I went searching for my latest target. It was raining on and off while we were at this one and only site, but when we eventually found one, even the rain couldn't dampen my excitement. We ended up finding maybe about ten of them. They varied in sizes and were already starting to pass wilt away. However, we did manage to find one that was really spectacular and in perfect condition with a large spike covered in around 40 to 50 flowers. When I found this amazing specimen, I didn't care less that it was raining or not. Two extremely rare orchids in two days. It has been a great bank holiday weekend.
My orchid hunt has taken me across the Norfolk border into Suffolk for a chance to add a bit of a bonus species to my list. My friend David joined me to visit a small reserve near Mildenhall for an open day event to see the very rare military orchid. This my only day to see it as it lies behind a fenced off area in a couple of chalk pits. I couldn't resist the opportunity.
Military Orchid
The military orchid is so called because the flowers are suppose to resemble soldiers in regalia uniform ready for parade. You may need a bit of an active imagination to see it but the sepals form the 'helmet', the lip forms the 'body' complete with 'arms' and 'legs', while the spots are the 'buttons' or 'medals'. If you don't see the resemblance, don't worry, you can still agree with me that this is a very beautiful orchid. I took over an hour and a half to admire the 30+ on display in these two small pits.
It is amazing to think that they were believed to be extinct in the UK in 1929. Military orchids became a bit of a British botanical Holy Grail until a small colony of them were discovered in Buckinghamshire in 1947. That site was kept a guarded secret and was not made accessible to the public until the 1980's. Meanwhile, in 1954, this Suffolk colony were discovered. In both sites, the numbers have been reasonably steady to this day. So I am extremely privileged to have the opportunity to see them today. I also saw plenty of common twayblades in the pits, too, but I will not tick them off just yet. I want to find them in Norfolk before I can do that.
Damselflies
Once we were done admiring the military orchids, David took me for a walk at Lackford Lakes. I've only visited this place once back in February 2016, when I saw a female long-tailed duck. Today, there wasn't exactly anything that was THAT surprising. However, I did see a couple of cuckoos (including a female producing a bubbling call as it flew by as we walked out of the visitor centre), some hobbies, a green woodpecker, tufted ducks and little grebes both with a large brood of chicks/ducklings, common terns, four-spotted chasers, red-eyed damselflies, a few sticks protruding from the water covered in freshly emerged damselflies of various species and we heard short bursts of a nightingale. Not a bad visit to Suffolk!
Don't you just hate it when you have to wake up early to catch a train the next day only to have your sleep disrupted from noises outside? Well last night, I was kept awake by a tawny owl hooting from a tree just outside my bedroom. Now, I'm not complaining as it got me excited. I don't hear one this close from my flat that often, so of course I jumped out of bed and opened the window in attempt to see it. I couldn't. It was just too dark to spot it. Once the hooting became silent as if to signal that the owl had gone, I tried my best to get back to sleep, but my mind was just full of thought thanks to that owl. By the time my alarm went off, I was unsure if I had slept or not.
Common Lizard
It was another glorious day at Strumpshaw Fen. There was one real disappointment though. No twayblades. I was hoping to tick this orchid off my list today, but it seems that I must wait another week until I can hopefully do that. No matter, there was plenty of other things to look for. Swallowtails were top of everyone's wish list this morning. They had been seen yesterday, but sadly, they weren't showing up for me today. What I did see, however, were some bearded tits from Fen Hide, a kingfisher from Reception Hide and several hobbies from both hides respectfully. I also saw a lizard and spooked a couple of Chinese water deer.
Grey Heron with an Eel
A heron provided some drama outside the Reception Hide as it took a few minutes wrestling with an eel while also trying to discard a piece of muddy weed from its bill at the same time. It was eventually successful, gulping it down in one go!
Despite not seeing a swallowtail, I did see plenty of other great insect species. From hairy dragonflies to blue-tailed and azure damselflies and from red mason bees to ruby-tailed wasps. Butterflies were also well represented with orange-tips, holly blues, small whites, green-veined whites, peacocks and brimstones.
My shift ended earlier than usual because my family arrived for a visit. So I joined my mum, 2 brothers, my sister-in-law and little Ava for a short walk to Fen Hide and back. Ava was a little more excited than the last time she came for a walk here and was full of energy. As she ran around the place, it was difficult to spot the wildlife before she more than likely scared them off. Never mind. At least she was enjoying herself as she played with the vegetation and attempted to understand how binoculars worked in her own little way. I'll make a naturalist out of her one day one step at a time.
My third orchid on my list was going to be one of the trickiest ones to find. It is also one of the strangest. The bird's-nest orchid has the appearance of something dead and wilted. With brown flowers and no leaves, it is easily overlooked and blends so well with the leaf litter that you could trample on them without even knowing that they were there.
They grow in woodlands with mature beech trees in which the orchid have a complex relationship with. As this orchid has no leaves, it is unable to photosynthesis. The trees, on the other hand, do and it exchanges the sugars that it produces through photosynthesis down into the roots where it trades with a fungus for the vital nutrients and minerals that the tree needs deep underground. The orchid taps into this fungus and steals what it needs without anything in return through its bird nest-shaped roots, for which it gets its name. The bird's-nest orchid is a thief!
There aren't that many places in Norfolk to see them unlike in other parts of England. So I went to one place I've been to many times before as a kid but never knew the orchids existed until a few years ago. And though it is a very public place, I was told not to reveal where this site and the orchids whereabouts are to prevent illegal orchid collectors. I was given directions by the staff to where to look, but after walking around the trees, my parents and I just couldn't find them. We went back to ask a warden to show them to us. Returning to the same spot, he found some immediately! How on earth did anyone find them in the first place beats me as they were so small and blended in with the surrounding leaf litter that there was no way I would have found them without an expert on hand. We found a couple more on our own, but every single one of these plants were still in bud, just days away from flowering! It would have been nice if one was in bloom so that I could smell the honey-like scent it apparently produces, but I was still happy and ticked Bird's-nest orchid from my list anyway.
I was like walking in a daydream this morning. Soaking up the warm sunshine and the sound of birdsong as I made my way around the reserve before my shift began. There was a sense of laziness, a sense that the natural atmosphere around me was 'chilling out'. I was so relaxed from the beauty of it all that I hadn't realised that everything was mostly being heard than seen. The birds were eluding me, but I knew that they were there. A grasshopper warbler was reeling somewhere out of sight, but I could hear it from inside the Fen Hide. I was able to see many of the other warbler species (whitethroats, chiffchaffs, blackcaps, willow warblers and sedge warblers), but they refused to stay in my line of sight longer than half a minute, and in some cases, half a second.
Bluebells
This week, a few exciting things have been showing up at Strumpshaw while I was away. A ring ouzel had been spotted for a couple of days in the pasture fields. Sadly, it had disappeared for the last two days before today, but I wanted to check if it had returned this morning anyway. I walked along the river to the Pumphouse and scanned the fields. Nothing. It was clear that it was completely long gone. Completing my circuit through the woods, the sight of the bluebell display made the ring ousel-less walk a little better. It may not be as impressive as the one I saw at Foxley Wood the other weekend, but it was good enough for me at that moment.
Brimstones
In other news, the first swallowtail had emerged yesterday, a day early to the usual emergence date. It meant that swallowtail fever had now officially begun. I was hoping that I would see one from around Reception Hide, but I wasn't so lucky this time. You'd have to go to the Lackford Run to have a chance to see it. At least there were plenty of other butterfly species to enjoy. During my early walk, I managed to spot my first small copper of the year as well as plenty of hairy dragonflies. In the flower bed, red mason bees were checking out the stump with holes drilled into it, while orange-tips, green-veined whites and holly blues fluttered over the flowers. I especially couldn't tear my eyes away from the mating antics of a pair of brimstones as a female was trying to entice an interested male to mate with her, though he kept ruining the moment to chase the other butterflies away.
At the Reception Hide, despite not seeing a swallowtail, I was pleased in seeing several hobbies high in the blue sky amongst the many swifts up there with them. I was also busy writing up the sightings board when a kingfisher made an appearance so brief that it disappeared before I had a chance to see it. I also saw today; marsh harriers, reed buntings, a great crested grebe, great spotted woodpeckers, a brief glimpse of a distant bearded tit, swallows, mallard with ducklings, a couple of muntjac deer and a Chinese water deer.
This morning, I was more than ready to find my second orchid species of the year. There's no better place to do that than at New Buckenham Common. It is not a place that I'm really familiar with, but thankfully Dad knew the way. So here we were in search for the green-winged orchid. Apparently, New Buckenham has the largest display of this orchid in Norfolk. I was told to expect hundreds of them. I couldn't wait!
Green-winged Orchids at New Buckenham Common
After parking the car and walking onto the common, however, I could not find a single one. But then, a little further up the field, we finally discovered one. And then another one. And another one. It only seemed to be a small patch, there they were. This turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg as just beyond a gate into the next field, we found more patches of green-winged orchids here and there. And then we met a member of staff with a strimmer in her hands (don't worry, she wasn't going to mow the orchids down) who told us that there were even more at the far end of the reserve. She wasn't wrong! There were thousands of them! Each a different size and colour, from purple to pale pink. But what I really wanted to see was a white one (a rare variation). I looked everywhere, but every time I thought I had found one just kept turning out to be cuckoo flowers!
Green-winged Orchid
Green-winged orchids are dainty looking things with fewer and much larger flowers than that of the early purple orchid. Their sepals form a hood which are marked with green or bronze coloured lines that, if you peer under the hood, appear like wings, hence the name. This is another 'trickster' species that advertise to a bee to pollenate it for a reward of nectar only for the bee to discover that it had been fooled. There is no reward!
Though we were completely surrounded by these orchids, it is hard to believe that this is one of the fastest declining species in the UK. Once it was common and widespread, but now it has disappeared from at least 50% of its former range in the last 70+ years thanks to a change of agriculture. Today, green-winged orchids are listed as Near Threatened. I just hope this breathtaking display of purple and pink from this site continues for many years to come for future generations to see for themselves.
While I was mainly here for the orchids, I did also manage to hear two species of bird that are also declining fast. Corn bunting and turtle doves were singing somewhere in the bushes, but I was unable to see them as I had left my binoculars at home. But hearing their purring and jangly songs were enough for me. An extra bonus for a successful day of orchid hunting!
May 6thMousehold Heath
A day after International Dawn Chorus Day, I was up early for a second day in a row. There was a dawn chorus walk at Mousehold. The birds were already singing as we began the walk at 4:15am. I was on point in listening out for each species, while Will was plotting their rough whereabouts on a map. It was an enjoyable walk in which we heard a great selection of birds. We ended up hearing; blackbirds, robins, wrens, treecreepers, blackcaps, goldcrests, chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches, song thrushes, mistle thrush (a sound I haven't heard here for a while), woodpigeons, chiffchaffs, blue tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, whitethroats, herring and lesser black-backed gulls, dunnock, house sparrows, great spotted woodpeckers (call only) and we saw a buzzard twice and a Canada goose.
May 8thStrumpshaw Fen
What a horrible day! Another wet Wednesday, though it has felt like it has been a while since the last one. It has been raining non-stop all morning. I was given a lift to Strumpshaw today to avoid getting soaked. Though, I still got wet from just going to the Sandy Wall to count the cattle to make sure they are doing ok.
One thing I noticed when I arrived this morning is that between the toilets and the Reception Hide is a lot more open than it was before. This is because the old fence that marked the courtyard where Strumpshaw's staff work behind the scenes is now gone. A new fence has been built further to the left from where the old fence was. It feels like the office area is now in a fort closed off to the public's eye. The bee orchids that were once protected by the old fence are now exposed to where everyone can trod on them. Thankfully, there are chicken wire cages marking them out. So please watch where you're walking when you visit the reserve from now on!
Redshank
I had to leave Reception Hide to do some mandatory training half way through my shift, not that I was missing too much anyway. When I came back, I continued to watch the rain as well as a swarm of swallows swirling over the broad with the odd swift, house martin and sand martin, skimming across the water in a mesmerising display. A kingfisher would also keep flashing by in brief flybys, though I kept missing it. Marsh harriers occasionally soared close to the hide and we also had a redshank that stopped over by the front of the hide for some time. It is nice to see a redshank at this hide as they usually hang around by the Tower Hide or at Buckenham.
I was up extremely early this morning, 3:30am to be exact. It was International Dawn Chorus Day this morning and Dad and I travelled to Foxley Wood to experience it. It was still dark when we got there around 4:15am and it was dead silent. Then just before half past four, a lone skylark broke the silence. It was soon joined by song thrushes, which were the most dominant songster of this year's chorus. Never have I ever heard so many song thrushes in one place before!
Roe Deer
Slowly, more and more voices were adding their sound to this morning's dawn chorus. Robins, blackbirds, blackcaps, woodpigeons and the odd chiffchaff could be heard in the fading darkness. As it got lighter, I was able to hear goldcrests, treecreepers, the odd 'jep!' from a great spotted woodpecker, great tits, blue tits, a willow warbler, bullfinch and several high pitched calls that I'm still scratching my head over. The main cacophony occurred before the light really took hold of the day after 5:30am. We also came across a couple of roe deer and a hare crossing our path in front of us.
Bluebells
It was an interesting experience to listen to. Not one of my favourite dawn choruses over the years (nothing can really top the two misty Strumpshaw choruses I did in 2016 and 2018 in my opinion), but it was nice experience it in an ancient woodland setting all the same. However, what did made this chorus special was the breathtaking display of bluebells. Though it was hard to really appreciate it while the light was still dim, but once it was bright enough, a vast carpet of blue was appearing from out of the gloom before our vary eyes. It was truly magical and the true highlight of the morning. Within this display, I also spotted the odd white bluebell, red campion, primroses, water avens, yellow archangel, greater stitchwort, bugle and many other woodland wildflower species poking out amongst them.
Water Avens
Early Purple Orchid
There was one flower, however, that I was unable to locate amongst the bluebells and one that I was really hoping to see. Early purple orchids. Either I had walked passed them while it was still too dark to see or I was suffering from bluebell blindness, seeing only bluebells and nothing even slightly orchid like. And while I had already ticked this species off a couple of weeks ago, I really wanted to see them again with the bluebells. When we were starting to leave the main bulk of this blue carpet, I was really disappointed. When both these two plants mingle in the same place, the display gets even more impressive. But it wasn't to be. Thankfully, I didn't leave completely orchid-less. On the way back, away from all those bluebells and beside the path, we managed to spot about 5 early purple orchids, though not all in the same place.
When we came across two orchids together, side by side and looking exceptionally bigger than the other three specimens, it was at that point I decided to do something I've been thinking of doing for some time into action. Presenting! I want to film a piece about each species of orchid I find this summer, talking about each one and to document my orchid hunt in a different way. I'm not much of a talker and I tend to stumble over my words a lot and I've never really done anything like this with my camera before. I'm expecting it to be very amateurish with the camera fighting to focus on the orchid close ups, etc, but I hope it will do the job and get better the more I do this sort of thing. So let me know what you guys think? Please go easy on me!! (Also, I apologise for my dad's noises in the background. We're both new at this!)
There was a bit of a misty start this morning, but it was soon warming up to become a nice day. A male cuckoo was singing from one of his favourite trees by the river, the same tree that he or some other cuckoo has been using for the last few years. Hearing him from the far end of the Sandy Wall, I knew exactly where he was singing without even needing to look. Experience does that to you. I decided to see him anyway and was surprised to see a large group led by Peter (who does the group walks at Mousehold Heath). They were excited, but Peter was more so. "Sean! Cuckoo!" he called to me with excitement in his voice. "I know. He's often there" I replied, trying hard not to look too smug about it.
Wren
After a quick photo session with the cuckoo, while also being teased by a whitethroat singing behind me that just would not sit still into view for too long, I decided to tag along with Peter's group for a short while. We were making our way to Tower Hide, slowly but surely. Birds were constantly distracting us, causing us to stop and look every few meters down the path. From cuckoos (again) to the sound of booming bitterns. The list was growing; chiffchaffs, blackcaps, willow warblers, reed buntings, marsh harriers, a garden warbler, a couple of brief kingfisher sightings, snipe, a bank vole, common tern, nesting black-headed gulls and redshanks. We made our separate ways after leaving the Tower Hide. They continued on towards the Lackford Run, while I made my way back to start my shift at the Reception Hide.
Kingfisher
It was one of those quiet mornings with the wildlife making sudden appearances to keep us on our toes. When you thought that you were just going to stare at a few greylags for the remainder of the morning, up pops a kingfisher who kept flying to the same tall, forked, dead tree to my left unannounced. It sat there as if part of the tree, using it as a vantage spot to look over the broad. Then there were the first sightings of swifts and hobbies that I've had this year flying high above the reserve and also the swallows skimming the water for a drink and a common tern that kept circling the back of the broad for some time. And by the end of my shift, it felt like time had just flown by. Another Wednesday morning over and done with already!
