Bishop Middleham 3rd July 2021 (NZ 33124 32646) 

I cannot believe that it is seven years since we visited here; seems like no time at all, but entry to the quarry is just so unfamilar. Reason is that we have taken the back entrance and come in to the bottom of the quarry directly.
We are here just a week earlier than last time and at first I feared that it was too early for the Dark Red Helleborines as the first we saw were not out. But as we went around there were sufficient numbers in flower after all. The earlier visit means we get to see Bee Orchids, missed last visit, but the Marsh Fragrant Orchids are largely still in bud. Plenty of Common Twayblades, Pyramidal Orchids and Common Spotted Orchids, as you would expect. The were also a few pure white, unpigmented, varieties of the latter - D. fuchsii var albiflora. Also seen this time, absent during previous visit were a few Northern Marsh Orchids and their hybrids with the Common Spotteds, D. x venusta. But the stars of the show are the Dark Red Helleborines and these are well worth a diversion to see them again.

Seaham Business Park 3rd July 2021 (NZ 43456 47691) 

We are on our way to the next stop, but close to where we park the car is a bit of unmown grass verge with tantalising flashes of purple. There are Bee Orchids, Pyramidal Orchids, Common Spotted Orchids, Northern Marsh Orchids (well gone over), and D. x venusta. One could suppose that these had colonised from the clifftop walk we were about to do, but in fact it is a quite different set of orchids here, and so counts as a different site for me.

Hawthorn Dene 3rd July 2021 (NZ 43869 46338) 

This former magnesian limestone quarry can be approached from the village of Hawthorne above, or from a clifftop walk below. I choose the latter because it is a shorter flatter route and are mainly interested in one orchid. I have probably missed some of the species here, but time is a factor. Along the route there are tasters for what is to come. There are nice tall Common Fragrant Orchids, Common Spotted Orchids and Northern Marsh Orchids here and in the meadows. However I am really only one thing and finally spot two of them - the Dactylorhiza x mixta, the Common Spotted x Frog Orchid hybrid. Though small it`s slightly different colour helps to stand out a bit. In retrospect I wish I had done a bit more gardening - removing a few blades of grass etc before taking the photos, but this is how they are naturally. Scouting around we find some of the Frog Orchid parents and a couple of perplexing Bee Orchids The first in the photo looks like a var atrofusca but I am sure I would have noticed this at the time, so it is probably just an artefact of the camera angle. The other made me think var trollii, but really it looks like a normal plant where the unfurling of the labellum has been arrested. Anyway a couple of hours well spent for another tick off the list.

Lindisfarne 6th July 2021 (NU 09866 43671) 

Bit of a hiatus in seeing orchids on our trip up here. Other things to see and do, and an excursion to a pine forest for Creeping Lady`s-tresses was a failure and a waste of half a day. We even had a thunderstorm so intense that it was impossible to drive, with the road literally turned into a river.

Last visit we were a bit late for the Lindisfarne Helleborines, so this trip has been arranged for a week earlier - and it seems we are a week early this year. Barely one plant found out of some 25 had an open flower. Though all are quite small compared to other Helleborines, they are not too hard to find due to there rather yellowish overall colouring, This small colony is surviving but not thriving. Some plants had a rabbit protection fence around them.
Weatherwise it is wet and dismal and my camera lens requires constant wiping. I lose quite a few photos and these here are not good, but the best on offer. There are Northern Marsh Orchids, D. x venusta in numbers, Marsh Helleborines, and Common Spotted Orchids with some of these a nice pale pink shade.

Afterwards we decide to do a circuit of the main island and have a look for more Helleborines. A big mistake. We only see Common Twayblade in addition, but now the rain is bucketing down and we get soaked. Last visit we had to hurry of the island before the tide came in, but this time we have to wait in wet clothes for it to go out. Not one of the best visits to an orchid site.

Williamson Reserve 8th July 2021(NY 68132 51977) 

I wanted to see some Tyne Helleborines on the way home, but skipped Wylam because I have been there previously. Perhaps a mistake because I hear that they are good there this year. Instead we stop off at Beltingham Gravels. No helleborines, just one lonely Common Spotted Orchid. Something of a no-show theme going on here. Onwards to the Williamson Reserve, and there are too many to count. Unfortunately, once again we are perhaps a good week too early and there is not a single flower open. So, included in the photos is one of the rather attractive Mountain Pansies there, rather than one of the Common Spotted Orchids dotted about.