My summer in search of British and Irish orchids was the grand finale of a childhood steered by a botanical obsession. While the words, photos and experiences are mine, none of them would be on paper without the help of some wonderful people. Many friends have given me their time, but I would like to start by thanking Steve Povey, Sean Cole, Dom Price, Timothy Jenkins, Mike Waller, Steff Leese, Sharon Parr, David and Frances Farrell, Jeff Hodgson, Michael Powell, Paul Drummond, Colin Auld, Gerry Sharkey, Peter Chapman and Paul Smith, for kindly offering me site information and/or accompanying me on my hunt for orchids. A big thank you to the Horner family from Winterslow Coachworks for keeping me on the road throughout the summer. Thanks also to my PhD supervisors for their patience and understanding while I finished writing.
For access to letters of correspondence between botanists, I’d like to thank the Druce Herbarium at the University of Oxford, the University of Reading Herbarium, the Orchid Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the University of Cambridge Herbarium (CGE) and the Natural History Museum, London (BM). Particular thanks to John Hunnex (BM) and Christine Bartram (CGE) for their time and effort in helping me. I’m also very grateful for the bursaries and grants awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society, the Glasgow Natural History Society, Bishop Wordsworth’s School, Charterhouse, and the Sarum St Michael Educational Charity.
To everyone who read through drafts and helped me find a publisher, thank you for believing that it would happen, and thanks to everyone at Short Books who made it happen. In particular, I want to thank my brilliant editor Aurea Carpenter, for taking my text and running with it, and Evie Dunne for her beautiful illustrations.
Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to the following: Cody Sands, Nikki Webber, Alice Thomson and the rest of my friends (you know who you are), for your love, support and encouragement in the face of my rambling, whimpering and relentless requests for opinions. To Suzie Lane, for the hours we spent orchid hunting together (let me know when you find a Ghost). To Betsy Tobin, for your generous offering of time and literary expertise, and for guiding me through the publishing process from start to finish. To Mattie Brindle, without whom I would never have finished writing my story: thank you for helping me see I could still do it. To my best friend, Ben Ingledow: thanks for bouncing back opinions, for picking up the pieces when it all got a bit much, and for constantly cheering me on even as I crawled over the finish line. Lastly, thank you to my family, for twenty-three years of love, support, and trips to look for orchids. I’m sorry if you’re embarrassed by any of it.
You’re all brilliant, and I owe you so much.
Leif
August 2017