After visiting Chris Thorogood at the Oxford University Botanic Gardens we worked with ex-Orchid Project Student Jess Buckle and her research into the Orchids along the River Cherwell.

Jess has completed three years at St John’s College, Oxford and still joins us regularly for Orchid Project events. For her final year dissertation she is studying orchid populations along the river Cherwell and our task was to help her with orchid counts and surveys and one of her test sites.

We found that a team of 25 orchid enthusiasts can make light of orchid counts in the field. I was particularly impressed with the speed with which the MRSM students became experts in identifying British wild flowers.

A big thank you to Jess for making the day so exciting.