Man Orchids and passage waders

Barnack is one of the more northerly outposts for Britain's scattered Man Orchid population, and they are relatively easy to find here from mid-May to mid-June. Despite a warm May, the spring still seems a tad late, and many of the 'men' were a good week short of their best over the weekend ...

Personally I think there's a real charm to what, from a distance, looks an almost weedy and ill-looking species. My mum's underwhelming reaction to them said it all! However, when you look closely, there's plenty going on here, with the dainty little 'men' bearing their helmets. Some were quite washed out yellow; others were much more hued.

Shorebird passage, like pretty much everything else this spring, has been both late and lightweight. The forecast rain and easterlies on Friday nevertheless promised, and duly delivered in the form of a quartet of Turnstones and a beautiful and genuinely red Knot at Deeping Lakes. However, the so-called 'wader pit' on my old patch at Baston & Langtoft Pits has been enveloped in water and now has minimal wader habitat available. That didn't stop Hugh Wright et al gripping me off with a stunning Temminck's Stint there on Bank Holiday Monday, by which point I was back in London. I've never seen Temminck's at BLGP and this was the second in three years at the site, following a brief bird that Mike Weedon had in May 2016.

Red Knot with 'Tundra' Ringed Plover, Deeping Lakes, Lincs, 25 May 2018