Military Orchids and Red Kites in the Chilterns  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Homefield Wood Following on from my day in the Chilterns yesterday I had a few more places I’d been recommended to visit and one place I was really interested in was Homefield wood, where I’d been told I might find some Military Orchids. As this was a new orchid to me I was keen to see if I could find it. I’m not familiar with the area but I finally found my way to the wood. It’s another looked after by the BBOWT. I was just getting ready to go for a walk to see what I could find when someone else arrived. Lucy was her name and if you are reading this Lucy I can’t thank you enough for your company in the woods that morning. Even if we didn’t find any of the orchids themselves I certainly enjoyed my walk and the many conversations, especially as we shared a love of walking and the Lake District.
I had been given the grid reference of another piece of woodland to look in too so I set off on more narrow roads all completely new to me which always makes for an interesting journey.All was going OK and I hadn’t got myself lost when I met with a couple of cars blocking the road. One of the lady drivers came over to explain that the road was blocked due to an injured Muntjac deer and they were waiting for a local Gamekeeper to come and put the poor animal out of its obvious distress.
While waiting for the chap to turn up with his shotgun I had a very interesting conversation with the other people waiting for the road to clear. It seems that this is almost a daily occurrence and I guess if this had happened in the early hours of the day the Red Kites that are a constant sight in the skies over the Chilterns would have had a good meal.
 Orchid meadow I have to admit to never having seen a Muntjac in the wild and I know in some areas now they really are a pest due to the damage they do to native plants. I wouldn’t wish the poor animal the suffering it was having though. Eventually the gamekeeper turned up; he was the husband of one of the ladies I’d been talking to and they lived on a local farm. After that unfortunate incident and with the road now clear, I carried on driving through the narrow country lanes passing through some delightful villages with equally delightful names such as Fingest and Turville. I eventually came to the spot and there was just about enough room to park the car on the narrow road. I made my way through the small patch of woodland and came out onto a wild flower meadow on a steep slope: just the kind of area I would expect to see lots of orchids and indeed there were hundreds of Common Spotted Orchids and a few Fragrant Orchids too.  Military Orchid Also in this area however were lots of cages and inside were many flower spikes of the Military Orchid, but sadly they were all finished and I was looking at the withered flowers. I had almost given up when I went into an area close to some trees where there was a bit of shade. Sure enough there was just one flower spike left for me to see. It wasn’t the biggest but it was still great to see what I had gone to a lot of trouble to find. I carefully removed its protective wire cage and took a few pictures and then sat on the warm sunny hillside to eat my lunch and enjoy the view.
The next place I was advised to visit was Watlington Hill, a nature reserve looked after by the National Trust. As always before visiting a place I do an internet search to try to find out as much as possible about the place. Nothing prepared me for what I found though as I walked out onto the hill taking in the views of the Oxfordshire countryside. On top of the hill is a large area of short turf kept that way by rabbits. On looking at an old ant hill it struck me it was like a little world in miniature on the top and the number of different plants in a small area was staggering. This area is apparently very good for butterflies that like this kind of chalk downland, such as Silver–spotted Skipper and Chalkhill Blue. These would be around in late July however and as it was a very windy day I didn’t see any butterflies on the slopes.
When walking around the lower slopes I did find lots of Brimstones. The Brimstone is a butterfly that always sits with its wings shut so I was a bit puzzled when I found one sitting on plant with its wings open. It soon became obvious that it was a female trying to attract a mate, and when I was taking a picture a male flew into the shot too.
Back on the top of the hill was an amazing place however, because just about everywhere you looked there were Red Kites. In all the visits to the Chilterns I’ve had I have often tried to get pictures of these fantastic birds but they have never been close enough. I knew I had a really good chance this time though as at times they were really very close. They have a wingspan of just over five and a half feet fully grown, and they certainly make a big shadow on the ground as they fly past you.
I’m still learning how to use my Sigma 150-500 lens but I found the stabilisation on it was invaluable and it really helped me to get some shots that I can say are OK. I certainly found it quite a challenge to locate the bird in flight in the viewfinder, not helped by the fact that it was very windy on the top of the hill. I had my camera set to continuous auto focus and also had the camera set on multiple images so I was able to take a series of shots each time I had one in view. This of course means you end up filling your memory cards very quickly but also that you stand more of a chance of catching a good picture.
 Red Kite feeding It was because I did this I discovered I had a really interesting series of pictures showing that in the talons of the one bird I watched, there was obviously something it had caught, and it looks like it is either a Slow Worm or a snake. The series of pictures as it’s flying away from me shows it feeding on the creature in flight and it was a real treat when I discovered I had it all on camera. It really had been so exciting to watch these huge birds and I think at one time I could see at least a dozen in the air from the very windy hillside. They, of course, would glide with seemingly no effort. I have made a mental note that if it’s possible a trip to the Chilterns in mid-May next year would be really worthwhile. Just to watch the Red Kites at Watlington Hill would make a trip back there worthwhile at any time of year.
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