Orchid update

We reached 277 orchids today and I've been trying to work out how this relates to previous years. It's not straightforward. The last few years have seen a peak of 945 orchids in 2023 followed by a crash to 312 in 2024 and a recovery to 723 last year. The numbers in the previous years at thgis date were 158 in the peak year, 128 in the crash year and 160 in the recovery year. Those numbers are not really that different when you consider the year totals which are so different. Also with weather changing and spring coming earlier year on year the extra 100 or so orchids could be explained through being a week or so ahead at this stage. So I am drawing no conclusions as to final numbers yet. Here's a photo of a clump of Common Spotted Orchids - eight in total.