Tuesday 14 July 2015

Sanna on a Damp Day

Yesterday started damp - but that was no reason not to spend a morning at Sanna. For a start, a bit of Kilchoan sunshine discourages others, so the beaches at ten o'clock were completely deserted except for the birds.

By midday the clouds were lifting to reveal a sea that, while it was mirror calm close in, produced sudden flashes of white where the swell lifted against the outlying skerries.

This picture looks north across Sanna Point to Muck and Rum. The sheep in the foreground were intent on their meal of seaweed, and didn't seem too worried about the rising tide.

It was a day to sit on a rock and watch the slow advance of the tide across the sands, to listen to the scolding of the oystercatcher families, and only to raise a bit of energy when....

....it came to searching for orchids. The frog orchids are now in full flower, a magnificent display.  It's thrilling to have found them, and I have now located three separate areas at Sanna which have these orchids, one of which has upwards of a hundred individual blooms. While some of the other orchids, such as the northern marsh, are brash in their colours....

....these are understated, the flowers varying from a reddish rust to a creamy green.

Pure white orchids aren't uncommon. Mostly they're heath spotteds, but this orchid looks a little like a marsh fragrant, which do vary quite a bit in colour.  If it is, it's the first white marsh fragrant I've found.

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