My goal (wish) for this summer was that I could find two new species of orchid. This region is favourable to many orchid species and we even have some rarities, although naturally not even close to the extent that is found on Gotland (big island off the south-east coast of Sweden). But, I’ll happily settle with whatever I can find here. I had marked off some pages in my ”orchids of Sweden” book, but what happens? I hadn’t even marked the first orchid I got to see, I thought it was so unlikely that I would ever find it! Nevertheless, the calypso orchid became my 1-out-of-2 of new orchids.

So, I was still waiting for the orchid season to really begin so I can start hunting for the 2-out-of-2. But what happens? My neighbour greets me when I come back from a photo excursion, he says that he found some orchids behind his house and if I’d be interested in seeing them and maybe identify them? The first orchid he shows to me is a heath spotted orchid… but what’s that next one then? Haven’t seen any orchid like this before! After a short consultation with my flora books, I can now proudly add a new orchid to my list – Coeloglossum viride, frog orchid. Imagine that – this orchid had been growing less than 50 metres from my house all along. No one would ever have spotted it had my neighbour not cleared the forest and thus uncovered some treasures. A small green orchid… talk about camouflage!

So now I have already achieved my goal of two new orchids for the summer. Dare I hope that my good luck continues and I find (or someone helps me find) some more?

I had a look at the lady’s slippers to see if they would be blooming soon, even if I had decided that I would not be photographing them this year (just to avoid wearing out the area). Blooming indeed – they were already fading! In the past years they’ve been in their prime around midsummer, or slightly before. As if any proof was needed that we had a lousy winter and an early spring.