More images from Estonia

 

 

 

 Great Crested Grebes having a set to.

 

 

Slavonian Grebes

 

Spotted Flycatcher is a very common bird in Estonia

 ORCHID TOURS
Some comments from our guests who joined our orchid tours. Many thanks to all for your company and your feed back.



LATEST NEWS 17 May 2013
Green-winged are now in full flower albeit very late, bit they caught very quickly. Early Spider too is flowering although quite small specimens at the moment, Early Purple is fully out and some Fly Orchids are already in flower. Some Lady Orchids are also in flower but these last a long time so there will be plenty more later in the month. Some idiot has mown some of the rosettes of Lizard Orchid on the roadside but fortunately there are plenty more. I am looking forward to the full array of species at the end of the month.

It is now the 16th July and the Marsh Helleborines are in full flower. What a sight!
Henry was enjoying himself too.

01.06.2013
Good morning John,

Just to say thank you for such a great day on Thursday, I really enjoyed it. You were so knowledgeable and interesting to listen to, and it was thrilling to see so many orchids in one day.  I think my favourite site was the beech wood, in that I was so surprised by what we found there. An amazing sight to behold in the gloom of the wood. Thank you for sharing your love of orchids with me and making it such a memorable day.  I will return to the orchids with my tripod and take some considered macro shots.  When I have written my blog I will send you the link, hope your next tour is successful with the promised warm days I am sure you will find more wonderful specimens.

You may well hear from me again when we have checked our finances, and see which overseas tour appeals to us for next year.

Kind regards,

Melanie

   Melanie refers to a spectacular display of Birds Nest Orchids and White Helleborines on May 30th, although neither were flowering properly yet. Things really are very late this year due to the cold spring. Lady Orchids were tremendous and a few Monkey were flowering and many more in bud. Some nice Fly Orchids, and many Man Orchids mostly still in bud but beginning to open up. One Greater Butterfly in flower in a wood was a surprise as the ones in open country were still in bud.

 

Orchid tour

I did not have time to do a full days tour due to circumstances beyond my control. However John took me round to the (rare) species I wished to see. En Route he showed me meadows and woods full of Orchids of a large variety of species, many more than I have seen before. The highlight for me other than the rarities was a small wood full of Birdsnest orchids and the largest White Helleborines I have ever seen (I know size isn’t everything).  It was an amazing few hours, next year I shall do the full tour.

Jim fell 

04 July 2013

Hi John,

Just a few words of thanks for organising the orchid day trip.  Given that it has been the most extraordinarily topsey-turvey year for plants it was quite remarkable to see so many species in a single day out.  Particularly impressed with the birds nest orchid, perhaps not the most glamorous orchid but a very fickle plant that frequently fails to show up at known locations.  Having spent a season trying to locate a specimen in west Kent and failing dismally it was quite staggering to be taken into a wood and finding excellent specimens whichever way you turned.  The lady orchids were excellent and remarkable to see them in such huge numbers. It was my first visit to that site but will definitely be on my itinerary next year whilst Park Gate is always a joy regardless of when you visit.  It might have been a very long day but for me it was over all too soon.

Best regards

Chris  07 July 2013 

Dear John,

We now have a new computer so are once more in communication.

It has taken us a long time to come back to you, but we have been on our annual visit to the Swiss Alps to make sure that the Edelweiss still blooms. It does.

We greatly enjoyed our visit to Kent in June. We were most impressed by the way you looked after us, and your patience with three octogenarians who don’t find hopping over stiles as easy as it once was.

It was very exciting for us to see so many orchids in one very full day, and especially to be introduced to six which we have never seen before (we cannot, alas, in all honesty, count those which were merely in bud).

Thank you, too, for making the arrangements for us to stay at the Observatory, where we were very comfortable.

We would greatly encourage others who might be thinking of joining you to do so. Our day was never to be forgotten.

Yours sincerely,

Peter & Patricia Moore  12.07.13

 

Hi John,

"I went on an Orchid Safari with the Sandwich Bay Bird Tours at the beginning of June, which is the height of the orchid season in east Kent. John's knowledge ensured that we saw many different species, and during the tour he was able to give us all great additional information about the orchids and other plants we saw during the day.

Highlight is always going to see the Monkey Orchids, another superb year for them in Kent, but special mention should be made of the display of Lady Orchids, something I could have stayed and looked at all day. John's knowledge also allowed us to see the hard to find Fly Orchid in two locations, as well as two Greater Butterfly locations. All in all we saw: Early Spider, Man, Fly, Lady, Birdsnest, White Heleborine (but these were not out due to the late spring), Monkey, Lady and Lizard (also not out). A wonderful day, and one I would heartily recommend to anyone."

 Ian 15 July 2013

Estonia Spring 2013

Not long been back from Estonia where I did two back to back trips with clients. The trips were designed to search for orchids for three days followed by 4 days looking for mammals and birds. We put a lot effort in, often at night but then it does not really get dark at this time of year.
Both trips were amazing and some of the orchids that are either rare or don't occur in the UK, or at least Kent, can be found below. Also a few Brown Bear shots. I hope to repeat this tour in 2015 so if you are interested in this,  register your name early. Places will be limited and the flower window is short. They are one week tours covering the west including some of the islands, central and NE Estonia for bears.

Early Marsh Orchid

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

 Lady's Slipper Orchid

Ruthe Orchid

Fen Orchid

 Sword-leaved Helleborine

Dark Red Helleborine

Red Helleborine

 

Baltic Orchid

 

These are just a few. The complete list seen comprises of the following:

Lady's Slipper, Marsh,  Dark Red, Red, Small-flowered, Sword-leaved and Broad-leaved Helleborines, Bird'd Nest, Twayblade, Lesser Twayblade, Greater and Lesser Butterfly, Fragrant, Southern Marsh, Baltic, Early Marsh, Flecked Marsh (cruenta), Ruthe, Common and Heath Spotted, Early Purple, Military, Fly, and Fen Orchid. 24 species in 3 days. Quite a list and of most species plenty of specimens. It really is a great country for orchid lovers.

 

Raccoon Dog

Brown Bears

A four year old male and two cubs were seen on the second tour and a female on the first visit. Unfortunately the light had gone to make photography possible for the latter. Other major mammals included Elk (Moose), Pine Marten , Eurasian Beaver and Siberian Flying Squirrel.

 

Namibia tour late availability

Namibia birding tour with Sandwich Bird tours -21 october to 3 November 2013

This stunning 14-day safari takes you to some of the incredible highlights of Namibia, and more! If you love wildlife and wide open spaces, look no further. This tour is definitely for you! We’ll visit the panoramic Sossusvlei, the haunting Skeleton Coast and fascinating Damaraland, before we head off to see some majestic wildlife at Etosha National Park and finally Erindi Game Reserve……See close to 300 bird species! Join Neil MacLeod and John van der Dol and tick off the Namibian endemics whilst having a great African safari!

Highlights on this tour include:

Sossusvlei – Skeleton Coast – Damaraland – Etosha National Park –Erindi Game Reserve

Please follow the link to view the detailed programme: http://safariwise.com.na/archives/2013-namibia-birding-safari-with-sandwich-bird-tours

More Orchids

Went out this morning to get some shots of colour variants of Southern Marsh Orchid. Found them from almost pure white to deep purple and everything in between
Below is a collage of some of the orchids. The top left part of the image is a Leopard Marsh, a form of the Southern Marsh. The green moth is a Forester moth which is quite a rarity in these parts.

 
 
 

 

 

Some of the other orchids in Kent. Lady, Pyramidal, Bee, Lizard, Late Spider, Southern Marsh and Marsh Helleborine.

 

 

 



Namibia October 2013

We are still looking for some more people to join us on our birds and mammal tour of Namibia for this coming October. Details can be found on Sandwich Bird Tours website.
Come and join us, it is one of the most amazing destinations going. Tour report from last year can also be found on the website.
John