The Victorians travelled the world and risked their lives hunting for orchids. These days, people write books about giving up their jobs and spending a year trying to see all the British orchids. Me? I've just spent five years searching for the smallest and the rarest (both questionable claims, but defendable) orchid in my own county (well, Watsonian Vice-County, VC55). The irony is, although I knew exactly where the only Frog Orchid (Coeloglossum viride) In Leicestershire and Rutland was (thanks to the generosity of others), it took me five years to find it - it's not that easy to find a two inch high orchid in rank vegetation:
And now I've found it, I couldn't be happier.
