The pages are 10 years old this year. i am surprised to see that they are still going, people finding them useful, and that I am still finding some new places and orchids to write about. Please help yourselves to a virtual slice of cake. Sorry I just could not find one decorated with orchids.

The new year kicks off with an early April trip to Rhodes. I have been here once before, but that was 20 years ago and in late September, so before I got my orchid obsession and totally out of season for orchids. I have ideas for two other away trips, but unfortunately they are both at roughly the same weeks, so a choice will have to be made soon - they do not happen, so they pass over to 2024.

Other than that, unlike other years, I have few new places to visit on my radar, at least at the start of the year. This is partly due to the been there, seen that conundrum. Perhaps things will soon get better. May and June were fairly hectic, but July got off to a quiet start. I had run out of new places to visit. However of the 43 site visits this year 15 arre new so that is better than 1 in 3. On the down side, after the wild fires across central Rhodes I find two very local sites being developed and no longer accessible. Also I am finding that a significant number of sites are becoming overgrown in the last couple of years, forcing orchids out. Is this yet another legacy of Covid restrictions, or what is being called rewilding. I have my own thoughts about that and you may be able to find them here. Changes to the climate may also having an effect, but how much?

No new UK species seen this year, but there is less than a handful to be seen and they are going to be elusive or require meticulous planning. Still, I have ticked off a few entities from my list of what to see.

I must, sometime, go back to the earlier pages, written before I had fully decided on page format. Bring those in line with the more recent pages for consistency. It will be a task!