Calypso Orchids at Oulanka NP

Calypso bulbosa is arguably the most stunning of all Europe's orchids. Known more widely as the Fairy Slipper or Calypso Orchid, the flowering plant is a perfect design of nature. Exhibiting one or two rounded green leaves at the base a deep red stem that reaches heights of around 15cm, its appearance is one of uncluttered simplicity. This ensures that the plant's crowning glory, its sole pinkish-purple flower, enjoys undivided attention.

It's impossible not to admire this species in full fettle. It is a genuine work of art - delicate, intricate and exotic, the amazing flower of Calypso bulbosa looks like it belongs in the tropics rather than the taiga - yet it thrives in Finland's boreal forests.

At 66 degrees north, among the decaying pine needles that litter the forest floor of Oulanka National Park, excellent numbers of flowering Calypso Orchids can be found in late May and June. We were fortunate to find several tens of this spectacular species about a kilometre east of the visitor centre, some right by the main path - many thanks to the help and expertise of Sean Cole, who was back home in the UK at the time.. Here are a few photos.

First day in Japan

It's been one hell of a slog to get to where I am sat currently (in the Best Western Hotel at Suminoekoen, Osaka). In fact to be precise it was a slog lasting 25 hours from take-off at Heathrow to arriving at Suminoekoen station this afternoon, involving two planes and three trains. Although I was exhausted, my first ride on the Shinkansen woke me up - not only for the speed but for the views of Japan as we journeyed south, highlighted by the glorious sight of Mount Fuji on a clear day.

Mt Fuji from the Tōkaidō Shinkansen

After this quite considerable effort to reach Osaka on my first afternoon, I was naturally a little disappointed not to find the returning drake Baer's Pochard at his favoured haunt in Suminoe Park. And what a strange place it is, for one of the world's rarest birds - a swimming pool!

Prime habitat for critically endangered birds

Though the light was already fading by late afternoon, the park provided some reasonable compensation (for a Brit) in the form of a handful of Dusky Thrushes and Oriental Turtle Doves, as well as a few new birds for me: Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Oriental Greenfinch and Eastern Great Tit, all of which fall between 'common' and 'complete trash' in terms of Japanese status. Black-backed Wagtails (lugens) were pretty nice as well, with one sitting still for long enough at dusk for me to rattle off a few record shots at high ISO.

 Eastern Spot-billed Duck

Motacilla (alba) lugens

Right, I'm off to bed.

Penduline Tit

This is the first Penduline Tit I've seen in Britain since the flock of four at Rainham in winter 05/06. I wasn't going to bother going but on hearing it was showing well, decided it was worth the hour drive down this morning. And so it proved: though it would go missing it times, it eventually showed to within 10 metres in beautiful golden afternoon light.

Black-throated Diver

Marc Read and Black-throated Diver

Spent a couple of hours lying around in swan shit in Princes Park, Eastbourne on Monday morning. The evergreen Marc Read was on hand to pick me up and drop me off at the train station, maximizing the time I had before having to hop it back to London. The reason for my visit - a juvenile Black-throated Diver - was a little more wary than I'd hoped, and never really gave frame-filling views. Nevertheless, pretty pleased with my shots - most obtained by simply running around the lake margin to get as close as possible while the bird was submerged..!

All in all a pretty fun couple of hours, with the changeable light conditions allowing for a nice variety of shots to be taken.

They did warn me...

I've been told by a number of people that getting in to orchids can be a dangerous game. As Mr Lowen said to me once, "you think large white-headed gulls are hard? Wait 'til you get in to dacts!". I laughed it off. I'd seen some strange looking creatures down at my dad's old place in Kenfig, and thought I was well prepared for problematic Dactylorhiza-types. Then, while at Holt Country Park in Norfolk over the weekend, this 'thing' appeared in front of me and left me flummoxed:

The plant was in a marshy area at the bottom of the country park's heath area, among many hundreds of Common Spotted Orchids. At a first glance I presumed it to be a Fragrant Orchid due to the lack of spots on the leaves and flowers but, to me, the size (huge) and shape of flowers is not right. The shape and structure is kind of reminiscent of Common Spotted Orchid, but the obvious lack of spots (and the overall flower structure) are not quite there.

So, is it a Fragrant x Common Spotted Orchid? I'd be more than interested in others' thoughts!

Golden Gate Park

Our final morning in California was spent in Golden Gate Park. We were a bit lazy when it came to searching for passerines and, being a Saturday morning, the area soon became quite busy. Nevertheless we were thoroughly impressed by how showy some of the wildfowl was. Many failed the bread test, like this drake American Wigeon:

The morning light and reflections on the lake also made for some fun Ring-necked Duck photography:

This Pied-billed Grebe briefly came quite close and was one of several seen:

One of the only passerines to perform for the camera was this male Anna's Hummingbird. It's really difficult to try and catch the light on the iridescent throat and forehead; all my photos showing the purple sheen came out soft.

As always, click for larger versions!

Laguna Grande Park, Monterey

We found out about this site largely thanks to a wintering American Dipper, which showed astonishingly well during the evening of 21st (although in poor light) but had disappeared on 22nd. The low light meant shutter speed was slow and thus my shots are nowhere near as good as I might have hoped.

We also chanced upon a wintering Palm Warbler here, which showed well on both our visits. Surprisingly waterthrush-like in behaviour and appearance, and a good one to see in the flesh with future Corvo visits in mind!

Other common birds included Pine Siskins, American and Lesser Goldfinches, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, abundant Yellow-rumped Warblers plus this Downy Woodpecker:

...and plenty of House Finches including this smart male:

Townsend's Warbler

Before the trip, one of my personal targets was to see Townsend's Warblers and hopefully obtain some decent shots of them. The vast majority of Townsend's seen proved distant, difficult to photograph, in poor condition or a combination of all three. Fortunately this individual in Laguna Grande Park posed long enough for me to fire off a few photos as it sat in a flowering shrub a few yards away, although I still left California lacking the shots that I'd hoped for.

Red-winged Blackbird

A displaying male photographed just prior to sunset at Shollenberger Park, Petaluma on February 18th. Sadly didn't have the chance to obtain the desired images of this species.

Bonaparte's Gull etc

Got an early train down to Eastbourne this morning with the aim of seeing the elusive Bonaparte's Gull in Princes Park. Marc Read kindly met me at the station and gave me a lift down to the park, and it didn't take long for us to pick up the bird among the local Black-heads.

Though light was initially pretty poor, there were a few sunny spells later on in which the gull showed well. That said, it was surprisingly frustrating as a photographic subject, spending most of the time floating around in the middle of the lake at relative distance and only making brief visits to the margins to pick at the several loaves of bread offered by visiting birders. It was particularly interesting to hear it calling on several occasions - a higher-pitched, harsher call than Black-headed.

Click on the below for bigger versions.

Being a newbie to SLR photography, I was pretty keen to practice on common birds too. Herring Gulls:

Black-headed Gull:

And this very smart adult Mediterranean Gull:

A very satisfying morning out that saw me back in Hammersmith for 15:00.