Rain, rain and more rain, orchids, a few youngsters and a despairing bunny are amongst this week’s highlights in Unforgettabubble. Here is the week 4th – 10th June, 2017 in pictures.
As the visitors to the Dalby Forest Courtyard leave and everything closes for the day, wildlife continue with their comings and goings. The Pied Wagtail uses the picnic benches to launch off, catching flies whilst the squirrel scours the yard for scraps eventually finding some spilt ice cream!.
I get a glimpse of a stretching Blue Tit chick, one of the family next door to the House Martins..
…then the next day, I realise, along with the adult, that they’ve fledged!
Most of the rest of the week is taken up with torrential rain. Dalby Forest around Bubble HQ gets pretty soggy very quickly.
The clouds continue to brew…
but eventually, albeit very briefly, the sun comes out.
The rain stops for the whole day mid-week so I make a visit to Ellerburn Bank on the edge of Dalby Forest in search of orchids. I wasn’t disappointed. The colony of Northern Marsh Orchids are out….
…as are the Common Spotted Orchids…
…and the Greater Butterfly Orchid, protected by netting to prevent rabbits nibbling it, is flowering and fabulous!
There are fewer Fly Orchids than usual on the banks outside the meadow but the ones on the meadow itself are plentiful.
Meanwhile a Common Lizard sits on a stile – not the best place to sunbathe!
Back at Bubble HQ, the fading blossom on the Hawthorn tree is proving popular however the resident squirrel isn’t overly impressed with the rabbits but eventually learns to share nicely!
A Brimstone butterfly does a very good job of disguising itself as a leaf amongst the Honeysuckle and Clematis
and some youngsters get to know the garden.
Out on my favourite dog walk around the beech woods near Bubble HQ, I stumble across some Yellow Rattle. It’s great to see it as it’s a good indicator of a species-rich area. I have never seen it here before so I am more than pleased especially as the area was felled a couple of years ago.
Meanwhile Hedge Woundwort which flourishes on verges alongside the forest paths has begun to flower
And finally…a bunny despairs, wondering when the rain will ever end!
