Do ghosts still haunt our British woodlands?
Video provided by Jean Claessens
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
A co-ordinated Ghost Orchid search project is again being organised for the 2019 season, so if you would like to help out and get involved (especially people in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire or Scotland) then please contact us on:
The Ghost Orchid - Britains rarest flower...
Help make history
We need volunteers so that the core areas where the last records of Ghost Orchids in Britain occurred can be searched on a weekly basis to check for flowering stems.
Additionally, carefully selected sites close to these key areas will also be monitored throughout the season to check for the occurrence of any as yet undiscovered populations.
Your help is vital. Without the dedication of such a team of volunteers, finding a plant would be virtually impossible, and this enigmatic species could potentially be lost from our woodlands for good.
The search is on...
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​Last known sightings
In 2009, after an absence of 22 years, the Ghost Orchid was rediscovered in British woodlands, sending the Botanical world in to a spin. Last officially recorded in 1987, there have been many unconfirmed sightings dating up until 1999, and with periods of up to 37 years between flowering, there is every chance that one will turn up again.
© Nigel Kendall
© Dan Mitchell
Known localities
In the UK, Ghost Orchid sightings have been restricted to woodlands in just two small areas of Southern England – the Chilterns and the Welsh Borders. These locations are where the searches will take place, in both the sites where the last known records were from and in adjacent woodland nearby in places deemed suitable for Ghost Orchid colonies to exist.