Bee Orchid

Todays shots are of one of my favourite flowers the superb looking Bee Orchid taken in the rain today at the Pynes Hill area of Exeter .

Bee Orchid ( Ophrys apifera ) . Pynes Hill . Exeter . Devon

Bowling Green Marsh

Once again the time of year has come to praise Mr Pete Otley  for the management of Bowling Green Marsh !! as I went for a look there today and was rewarded with some superb views of some thistles and grasses of enormous height all around the edges of the pool , the only trouble is that there could have been a dozen or so birds hidden away behind all of the foliage , perhaps even a Great Bustard but you would never get the chance to see them lol
I put in a request around 3 weeks ago asking for the edges to be cut , not a lot to ask for ! for a reserve that is claimed to be the jewel of the South West . But I wont hold my breath lol .
So once again Mr Otley the enigma that you are , thank you for all of your endeavour ! as for all of the time that I have been birding the marsh I have only met you twice and then you promised a new scrape in front of the hide, but perhaps that is still somewhere over the rainbow lol .

Great Skua

First thing this morning I was down in my local town of Topsham and to my utter surprise I was rewarded with a fly over Rose-Ringed Parakeet a 1st for me on the Exe Estuary and only my second sighting in Devon . I then went down to Exmouth to have a look at Lyme Bay and yes it seemed a stupid thing to do seeing that it was low tide and I didn`t manage to see much at all , but I did see a Great Skua a 1st for the year ! along with 3 Common Scoter and a couple of Sandwich Tern .
I then had a look around the East Devon Commons and at Bystock Pools there were some very nice Beautiful Demoiselles , a couple of Small Red Damselfly and a Cinnabar Moth , and at another area I saw the following Butterflies , a Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary , 2 Small Heath & 2 Speckled Wood .

Beautiful Demoiselle ( Calopteryx virgo ) ( Male & Female ) . Bystock Pools . Devon