Silverdale, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Wednesday saw us taking a different tack, heading for some different terrain and some limestone country. On Tuesday night Irene discovered that a small, but quite scarce orchid called Autumn Ladies Tresses grows at Silverdale. So a little internet research and we had a definite location to head for. Silverdale is quite a special area in terms of natural history. Great areas are conserved for posterity and against changes that could threaten the environment and habitat of some very special species of birds, amphibians and plants. The RSPB looks after the huge bird reserve known as Leighton Moss, The Wildlife Trust has some unique habitat on Gaitbarrow Reserve and The National Trust manage some of the coastal areas that give home to many exciting plants, including 15 different orchids. Autumn Ladies Tresses, as the name suggests, is one of the last of our native species to flower and we had never seen one before. So we set out in the hope that today we would rectify that. It is always exciting to find a new orchid to add to our list.

It's not a very clear picture, but it's quite unusual to see Green Woodpeckers and we saw this one very early on in our walk. It was some distance away, hence the blurred nature of the photo and it seem to be very interested in this electricity pole!

Flowers attract butterflies and here we have a Brimstone Butterfly feeding on a Common Ragwort.

A Green Veined White butterfly.

A Robin. Not sure if it's a young one, or an adult just coming back into condition.

Always a comfort to see a well marked path.

Jenny Brown's point and the remains of a lime kiln.

Musk Mallow

Musk Mallow, growing at the high tide line.

Common Mallow

A lovely old, weathered, picket gate leading down to one of the coves at Jack Scout.

The National Trust sign says it all. I don't know if I am just beginning to really appreciate The National Trust, or I'm just noticing the signs more. They really have some very special places to manage, in their words 'For ever, for everyone'. For me, that small phrase really captures the importance of what they do and it is for that reason that I happily pay my subscription, so that they can continue with that work of conserving these special places, for ever and for everyone.

Autumn Ladies Tresses. This small orchid was the reason for our visit today.

More Autumn Ladies Tresses.

This was our firdst sighting of this particular little orchid and in a small area, we saw around sixty plants.