Wildflowers and orchids on a hillside in Laurac

We were lucky to learn from Facebook of a good orchid spot only about 15 minutes from home, so we shot off there on 2nd June to have a look. It really was a fantastic place and I clocked up another two orchids which I'd never seen before (that's not hard at the moment really!).

I was most hoping to find the Pink Butterfly Orchid (Anacamptis papilionacea) and we were given directions as to where they were in relation to the radio masts at the top of the hill. We only found a few of them, but there were literally hundreds of the Long-lipped Tongue Orchids (Serapias vomeracea) everywhere we looked which was just magnificent, interspersed with other orchids or wildflowers. Although another 15 mins inland from where we live there were still quite a lot of Mediterranean garrigue plants flowering here, or coming into bud. 

Keith at the top of the hill with dozens of Tongue Orchids in the foreground - the same as the ones in the photo above around the Pink Butterfly Orchid. The white flower is Lotus dorycnium from the pea family and I refer to it further down as the larval host plant of a particular moth.

There were also some beautiful Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera); some were pink and some white. They are very similar to the Woodcock Orchid (Ophrys scolopax) but I have learned how to tell the difference between the two using this link.

This is an Ophrys magniflora, very beautiful but I only found this one which was starting to go over. It is endemic to this department, the Aude.

Looking from the hillside towards the Corbieres hills in the far distance.

Amongst the wildflowers was quite a lot of thyme, as well as other Mediterranean plants, including Lavender.

In this shot there is Curry Plant (Helichrysum Italicum) in the foreground, in bud, plus the white flowers are Lotus dorycnium which I talk about a bit further down. If you click on these photos you will see them much larger and see far more detail.

All over this hillside I was surprised to see this beautiful blue flower which is called Aphyllanthes monspeliensis, usually seen all over the rocky coastal garrigues. It's an unusual plant, with no leaves as such, just long stems rather like chives with flowers on the end of some of them.

There were a fair few butterflies about but absolutely loads of Burnet moths of the Zygaena genus - mostly Six-spot and this one below which is Zygaena lavandulae; though I have only just learnt the common name I have forgotten it already! It's not the Lavender Burnet, despite its name! I've only seen it before close to the coast (about 1hr 25 mins from here) so it was interesting to see it inland, though it is in its natural habitat in terms of larval foodplant and rocky flowery hillsides. In fact one of the larval foodplants is Lotus dorycnium, which grows all over the slope opposite my house, but so far I've only seen Six-spot Burnet at home. In this photo there are two of them, one showing its underside and one the topside.

One more pink Bee Orchid to finish off!

I won't have time to write about our recent trip up to the mountains before we leave on Sunday for Provence (it's all go here!). Let me just sum it all up in one word. INCREDIBLE! I will need to do about four posts so I'll get to it eventually. 😀

Black Redstart nest and new butterflies in the garden

In the last ten days or so I've been lucky to see three new species in the garden, bringing my garden total so far to 32! The first was a Black Veined White (Aporia crataegi) on catmint in the Nectar Bar.

The same day I was watching the bees and flies buzzing around my Pyracantha hedge which was loaded in flowers, when I spotted this little Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)!

About a week later I saw another interesting butterfly in the Nectar Bar which I thought might have been a female Orange Tip, but it was in fact a Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri), which I've only seen once before. I didn't get a photo but they do look very similar to the female Orange Tip, with that pretty green pattern on the underside of the hindwings.

Now moving on to birds' nests - do you remember me showing a nest a couple of years ago made by Black Redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros) but which had been abandoned with eggs in it? They had built that nest under the roof of the covered patio right by the back door. They also started to build a nest at the other end of the patio the following year, but gave up on that before they finished.

This year they came back and carried on building that same nest! And then they seemed to hang around the pool/terrace area a lot and visit the nest occasionally - until one day we saw them visiting the nest with food in their beaks!!! We hadn't noticed Mrs sitting on the eggs but sure enough those little birds hatched and the parents have been backwards and forwards feeding them, and making a lot of noise if we are outside anywhere nearby (or the cats). Even if I am watching from the kitchen door they seem to pause as if they have spotted me. Quite why they built their nest there if they are going to be that fussy about humans around I don't know!

Both male and female are feeding the young and they are getting really well fed as when we sit outside the parents are coming back with more food in no time at all. A couple of days after we noticed that there were young they started making a noise whenever the parents came to the nest. Keith has counted five beaks sticking up in the air so far. He managed these photos for me to share with you. 

Above and below - the nest is located on the right of the built in barbecue (which we don't use, luckily!) under the patio roof, wedged on top of a beam. Below it is just underneath the white ball light on the right of the barbecue wall, above the blind.

Here's Mr Black Redstart on our shed roof waiting to visit the nest with some juicy morsels.

Photo credit: Keith Allen

And here are some of the babies!

Photo credit: Keith Allen

I'm so pleased K managed to get this next shot with Dad in the picture as well. 

I just hope that they don't fledge before they can fly or it could be disastrous with three cats around.

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Going back to May when the hedge was looking really amazing and really abuzz with pollinating insects.

This is the 'orchid lawn' on the same day, 23 May, with mostly Man Orchids (Orchis anthropophora) visible.

And now, it's covered in pink lollipops, the Pyramidal Orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis).

View from the other end of the garden showing a Lizard Orchid (Himantoglossum hircinum) just coming into bloom as well.

It seems to be a good year for orchids as other people have said so too. We recently visited a hilltop not that far from here which was covered in lovely wildflowers and loads of interesting orchids, so that will be my next blog post! I hope you are not sick of orchids yet. 😀 However we will be away for several days next week up into the mountains for a group adventure looking for wildflowers, butterflies and birds so I doubt I will have time to post before then.