Penduline Tits at Black Hole Marsh

Well, I didn't think that I'd ever be writing that title! Late this afternoon I got a text from Bun, he'd only gone and found two Penduline Tits in the reedbed by the field studies centre. Needless to say I dropped everything and drove over there as fast as I could. I know I'm in Sidmouth now but I still think of the Axe Estuary as my patch ( I have to really, Sidmouth is more than a little bit crappy so far). I don't think it's likely to just be a coincidence that the Darts Farm Penduline Tits weren't seen at all today. I very much suspect that this was them on their way east and back to the continent. They weren't showing when I arrived but within a few few minutes they not only showed themselves, they really SHOWED themselves!! Only a few feet away at times and totally oblivious to the small crowd watching them. Here's a few photos, the same only different coz they're on patch!

Still tucking into the larvae of Limnaecia phragmitella. 

 The strangely named Shy Cosmet Moth.

Yellow Star of Bethlehem - Third Time Lucky

Today was my third attempt in five years at locating the very elusive Yellow Star of Bethlehem - Gagea lutea at a site in North Somerset (the closest site to Devon for it, as far as I am aware). I know it occurs there but on two previous years I just couldn't find any, well any flowering that is. The plant is notorious for being a very shy flowerer in the UK, sometimes not flowering for years at a time. I decided to go a week or so earlier this year so as there wouldn't be so much ground cover for them to hide in. When I arrived it was pretty easy to spot hundreds if not thousands of small non-flowering plants and eventually I spotted my prize amongst them, a tiny glint of yellow giving away the location of a small group of flowering stems. I counted seven flowering plants in total but they were only just starting to open, with a couple of the plants still in bud. It was hugely satisfying to see them at last and they were every bit as subtly beautiful as I'd hoped they'd be. My photos aren't as good as they could have been due to the very high winds we had today. The delicate little flower stems were waving about all over the place!

The plants grow on steep moss covered rocky ledges overlooking a long disused quarry.

The leaves of the young plants are very grass like. You may just be able to make out a bit of yellow in the centre.

There are five flowering stems in the photo which shows how difficult they can be to spot.

The broader leaves are Ramsons. A lot of the vegetation had been nibbled by deer.

A single flowering plant with one large basal leaf and two leaf-like bracts below the flowers.

The two leaf-like bracts have really hairy margins as can easily be seen here.

The basal leaves are distinctive in having three prominent veins on the back

 unlike Bluebells which have just the one.

Until the petals fold right back the flowers can be difficult to spot because the back of them has a broad green stripe. I think because of this, they look quite beautiful when not fully open.

Green Hellebore and Solar Eclipse

Well, today was the day that I decided to go back to the wood near Abbotsbury to see if the Green Hellebores I saw there almost three weeks ago were in flower yet. Not only were the ones I saw before now flowering but there were many more plants than I had spotted last time. I think some were hidden away underneath some ferns when I was last there. I clambered down into the stream which runs in a very deep gully and some of the flowers were at a perfect height for photos.

 The plants are clinging to this vertical face..

Here I am in action.

 Obviously the cammo gear isn't really necessary, nice to see how well it works though.

Green Hellebore - Helleborus viridis 

Exquisite!

There were some lovely patches of this too..

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage - Chrysosplenium oppositifolium

On leaving the woods it was good to see that the sun was visible through a thin veil of cloud, so once back at the car we waited for the eclipse to begin. The clouds became intermittent and the conditions were perfect to be able to take photographs of the phenomenon. Whilst behind layers of cloud the eclipse could be easily viewed with the naked eye. The light became very watery and atmospheric but where we were we didn't notice any difference in the behaviour of birds, as has been reported elsewhere. It had been rather foggy when we arrived so I suppose they were just attuned to it being rather gloomy already. Photos weren't too difficult with the super-zoom camera. Here's a selection of my better efforts.

The watery light seemed to pick out all the small hillocks within the field, it was very atmospheric.

 It looked like the grin on the Cheshire Cat

This is my favourite shot as the clouds over the sun meant I got it in focus rather than just a burnt out area. If you look closely there is a small sunspot just visible. 

Same shot cropped to show sunspot better.

View it in full size and it really shows up well.