Hopgarden Wood

This morning the spaniel and I set off to walk to Hopgarden Wood where I've previously seen early purple orchids. It was spectacular - I stopped counting when I got to 200 flowering spikes, there were probably another hundred or so, all in quite a small area probably no bigger than half a tennis court. On the way back I caught sight of another grass snake. 

A cold north-easterly wind has kept butterfly numbers down today: Orange Tip, Brimstone, Holly Blue, Large White, Peacock.