Lizard Orchid

Day 3 of #30DaysWild was spent working on a brownfield site in southern England. The journey down was a bit traumatic as a warning light came on in the car early on in the journey - the same one that had mysteriously stopped the car a fortnight ago but hadn't re-appeared since, which made me think it was just an unexplained quirk. We considered abandoning our trip, but realised that we couldn't fit all our work in if we did this, so drove very carefully the rest of the way, with a couple of stops along the route. 


Much of the site had been cut for hay when we arrived, but there were enough odd unmown corners to make the visit worthwhile. Lizard Orchid was the botanical highlight of the day, smaller than some I've seen but flowering well despite the drought, though it was also good to see Field Mouse-ear and the first flowering Greater Knapweed. Four species of raptor were hunting over the hay-cut area including Peregrine Falcon, and a whole host of grassland butterflies were flitting around in sheltered corners.


Our trip back was similarly tentative, but we made it home safely just after 9, and ended up having dinner at 10 pm. A rather exhausting day all round - the car's now booked to go into the garage next week!