Our Orchids of Sicily tour is off to a flying start today, with immaculate Orchis brancifortii & Ophrys grassoana within minutes of our Etna hotel. With Sicilian native naturalist Andrea Corso co-leading with Jon Dunn 🇺🇦, we're getting an unrivalled Sicilian experience already. 😊

The local mid-Kent Early Purple Orchids have really moved on in the last few days ,with plenty more still to flower including 3 'Alba' specimens . found one sporting a single white floret ,and another with a tiny Bee present. Wild Orchids UK & Ireland

Fancy joining me for some Shetland spring birding? 11-17th May. Last minute availability- 2 spaces now come available. Last year’s itinerary saw all iconic Shetland breeding birds, turned up a PACIFIC DIVER and saw Eastern & Western Subalp, Hoopoe- oh and Orca and Otters too!

A small selection of the many Ophrys bee orchid hybrids & varieties we saw during last week's #OrchidsOfRhodes tour. If you'd like to join us for the best #orchid tour to Rhodes next year, with the best chances of seeing such treasures, bookings are open:
mariposanature.com/tours/botanica…

There are only 2 butterfly focused Mariposa Nature Tours holidays with spaces left in 2024, both guaranteed to depart. One is the Picos de Europa in NW Spain. In 2023 I was wowed by the scenery & profusion of butterflies. So much so I'm going again as co-guide! mariposanature.com/tours/butterfl…

Just a handful of the over 50 species of #orchid we found with our guests on last week's wonderful #OrchidsOfRhodes tour.

Next year's tour is already filling fast. If you'd like to travel with those who know Rhodes' orchids best, full details here:
mariposanature.com/tours/botanica…

FIND OF THE CENTURY AGHhh!!!!

Red-list Endangered, found at <100 places in Britain & formerly presumed extinct for Dorset…I cannot believe I’ve found this GORJ Three-lobed Crowfoot (Ranunculus tripartitus) at a site in Dorset! Wowowow!! 😍🌱

Smiles all around as we head home after a blissful week #orchid hunting in Rhodes, Greece with an inspiring group of naturalists, explorers, writers & photographers. If 50+ species wasn’t enough, it’s the people & their stories that make it special🤩🇬🇷 #seedpod #NotAnOrchid

Today marks the end of my amazing #OrchidsOfRhodes adventure 💔

I saw 50+ orchid species this week! & many other wonders thanks to the excellent guides Jon Dunn 🇺🇦 & Dr Richard Bate

(check out Mariposa Nature Tours for other wildlife adventures they offer🦋)

📍Rhodes, Greece

Two extreme Ophrys rhodia aberrations from yesterday's orchid-hunting here in Rhodes - the light and the dark side of this lovely #orchid . Yesterday it was the orchid that just kept on giving, with another fascinating hybrid still to come...

Two more species today added to our 50+ orchid total for our Orchids of Rhodes tour, and still more hybrids including this achingly rare Ophrys speculum x rhodia. We've so much more to share from this week! Watch this space. 😉

The theme of violets for this evening's @wildflowerhour has evoked such strong memories for me - in particular regarding my long-standing adoration of the scent of V. odorata
By Amédée Masclef - Atlas des plantes de France. 1891, Public Domain

7/4/24 Rhodes - Anacamptis sancta, what a beauty! We passed 50 #orchid species for the Mariposa Nature Tours #OrchidsOfRhodes tour earlier this week and we’re still adding more going into the afternoon of our final day. It’s been a pleasure leading a happy group alongside Jon Dunn 🇺🇦

Today had already been a brilliant day for our Orchids of Rhodes tour with a great many lovely orchids of many species seen... and then this happened.

A flavescent form of Ophrys calypsus found by tour leaders Jon Dunn 🇺🇦 & Dr Richard Bate. 💛

More treasures to follow tomorrow...

Boom.

Glorious weather, company and orchids for our picnic lunch here in Rhodes on the Mariposa Nature Tours Orchids of Rhodes tour. The Colossus of Rhodes (Ophrys colossea) c/o co-leader Dr Richard Bate, and Serapias bergonii.

Yesterday was a good day for orchid hybrid finds on the Orchids of Rhodes tour I'm co-leading this week with Dr Richard Bate for Mariposa Nature Tours. Several small-flowered Ophrys x feldwegiana; a gorgeous intermediate plant amongst O. blitopertha & parvula; and many more besides.

It's been another memorable day for our Orchids of Rhodes tour, starting with Ophrys lucis a couple of miles from our hotel, ending with two extraordinary hybrids (more on them soon), all via many other orchids, including this lush Ophrys halia found by tour leader Dr Richard Bate.

2/4/24 Rhodes - A wonderful chlorotic example of Ophrys umbilicata ssp rhodia (Ophrys rhodia) found by one of Mariposa Nature Tours’s guests on our second day, Juliet Turner #OrchidsOfRhodes

Gorgeous Hairy-footed flower bees were enjoying the Osmanthus flowers yesterday; this beautiful evergreen shrub has masses of scented blooms & is loved by many pollinators!💚 Happy new month everyone!🕊️ #nature #bees #TwitterNatureCommunity #wildlife #GardeningX #SolitaryBeeWeek