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Last Thursday after checking a few sites around the city with Mark Skevington for the City year list I some how ended up at Cloud Wood LRWT to see if any Early Purple Orchids were in flower? Well to cut a long story short, I found at least 200+ Early Purple Orchids in the wood with most in flower. Then checking out the Great Butterfly Orchids I found a few which were amazingly coming into bud! (at least three weeks early). Please with what I had seen I then suddenly noticed another orchid close to the path, which I knew straight away as Bird Nest Orchid!! To put this in context, Bird Nest Orchid hasn't been recorded in Vc 55 (Leicestershire and Rutland) for almost thirty years!! The last recorded sighting was in 1983 in the same wood. Keeping calm I took a few record shots of the orchid, and then let a few people know of the sighting. Getting back home I downloaded a few photos of the orchid and was more than happy after referencing the orchid on the net. So with Bird Nes...

After my trip to Southern Germany a few days later I nipped over to Lincolnshire and Cloud Wood LRWT to check out a few Epipactis (Helleborine) sites. Green-flowered Helleborine The first stop of the day was Whisby nature park near Lincoln for the Green-flowered Helleborines (Epipactis phyllanthes) and following the directions from Grahame Cadwood, one of the wardens at Whisby I was soon photographing a new orchid species for me, GF Hells OMFL!! In the same area were also good numbers of Broad-leaved Helleborines (Epipactis helleborine) and of particular note the variety Var.viridiflora .                                                         Var.viridiflora at Whisby  The next stop of the day was Messingham Quarry LWT for one of the few inland sites in the country for Dune Helleborine (Epipactis dunensis). With directions from Gr...

Nipped over to Cloud Wood LRWT yesterday to check out the Greater Butterfly Orchids . In the usual spot my self and fellow orchid hunter Sean Cole found at least twenty flowering plants and at least another forty non-flowering plants. Other orchids I saw in the wood included a single Common Twayblade and good numbers of Early Purple Orchids which most had gone over by now!

Two photos of the rare form Var.viridiflora. Normal "type" of Broad-leaved Helleborines . I nipped over to Cloud Wood LRWT yesterday to check on the Broad Leaved Helleborines which occur on the rides of the wood. Over the couple of hours I found at least 140+ flowering spikes and at least 14 plants which showed characteristics of the rare form Var.viridiflora . Although most of the plants were still coming into flower I expect the helleborines to be at there best in a couple of weeks.

In the afternoon I checked out Cloud Wood LRWT and the A50 by-pass at Markfield. The orchids I saw included Greater Butterfly Orchid , Common Spotted Orchid , and a non-flowering Bee Orchid at Cloud Wood. On the way home I checked out the by-pass at Markfield and found hundreds of Southern Marsh Orchids next to the busy road.