2014 will be a year of three halves in my quest for orchids. Firstly I hope to re-visit some old sites and see how the orchids are faring, or to confirm earlier findings. Next I hope to be able to add to my list of species and varieties seen. I am under no illusions that I will be able to tick everything off, but should be able to add a few to the sightings. But firstly, a cultural and historical trip to southern Italy, Puglia to be exact, provides a small but significant opportunity to spot some of the many orchids growing on Gargano - said to be the holy grail for European orchids!

The next `busy time' came along in June, when I had a journey down to Dover and had chances to call in on a few sites to spot a few new species; with some successes and a couple of misses.
And a break in Northumbria in July provided chances to catch the rarer Helleborines that grow there, but the season seemed to come to an abrupt end with the early flowering experienced this year; just a couple of visits after July, and one of those was a wash-out.

In total 34 species and varieties are seen and noted from 40+ site visits - a busy season and this excludes sightings abroad.

New Species and varieties 2014 - 14 in all, another new record, but I do need to leave some for 2015 and beyond:
     White Helleborine
     Green-winged Orchid
     Military Orchid
     Lady Orchid
     White Helleborine
     Green-flowered Helleborine var vectensis
     Lesser Twayblade
     Lindisfarne Helleborine
     `Tyne' Helleborine
     `Young's' Helleborine
     Pyramidal Orchid var emarginata
     Broad-leaved Helleborine var viridiflora (nearly)
     Bog Orchid