More Updates

I've been kept busy recently.
Firstly I have updated the Discworld Books and Stamps pages to include the new stamps issued in the first half of the Year of the Sneezing Panda. There have been the Cruel and Unusual Geography set which filled a few spaces.
And in the last month I have been out and about photographing more British orchids, and finally managed to tick off the elusive Small White Orchid from my list of must-see. To be honest thats a mundane name for a mundane orchis, but at least I have seen it

 

More Orchids

As well as a few North Wales orchid sites, I have recently returned from a week in the South East of England on the hunt for orchids rare or absent north of the River Thames. All those on the 'hit list' were seen and photographed, and you can read it all here

Majorcan Orchids

My wild orchid pages have just been updated with the first records of 2016. An April holiday in Majorca is the ideal time to see orchids in flower there. Some species were new to me, some were old favourites that grow across the Mediterranean region, and only one grows in Britain too. You can read all about them by clicking here

A Couple of Updates

February always sees the release of new Valentine's Day stamps from the Isle of Vue, courtesy of Colin Edwards and Alan Batley, This year is no exception and the stamp features the Coco D'Amour - a twist on those suggestively shaped vegetables that give people amusement.
As usual there are plenty of extras to collect, including full sheets, mini-sheets of unusual pairings, covers, an artwork proof sheet, and much more. There were also 5 photocopies of the reference work Colin used for the stamp design

To find out more on this and other Isle of Vue stamps (and a lot lot more) visit the Cinderella Stamps Forum


A couple of weeks ago I added a new in-depth look into one aspect of Discworld Stamps. This one looks at the stamps of Sto Helit, as it has been recently revealed that the 4p Green issue showing Susan Sto Helit held a number of undiscovered sports or variations of the stamp design. These number perhaps just 12 of each which makes them rare and quite valuable stamps! But I know of at least 2 collectors who since have found one in their collections. Which obviously made them very happy.

Discworld Stamps and Books

The Discworld Stamps all have their roots in the 41 Discworld novels written by the late Sir Terry Pratchett. The humour of the series spills over into the books and I thought it may be a good idea to link as many stamps as possible to phrases, incidents and chapters in the books.  The result is Discworld Stamps and Books

Each book has a short resumé of the story illustrated by images of the stamps that can be linked to the text. 

Steve's Orchids now updated for 2015

A busy summer for me with 75 orchid site visits, 24 of which were new for me. I only added 5 new species to my viewed list, but it was always going to get harder once the commoner species had been ticked off. However, for me, the highlight was the discovery of perhaps a novel and unique plant; a Broad-leaved Helleborine not only devoid of the pink and purple pigments which give the flowers their colours, but also deficient in chlorophyll. The result is a totally straw coloured plant that must be parasitic on the root fungi that it normally associates with

A couple of website updates

Having been to Corfu on holiday during late April I have come home with piles of wild orchid photos.The grow almost anywhere, from countryside, on the mountain and even in roadside verges. Some 30 species recoded, 18 of which I have seen before.

  Click here to view

And for the Discworld Stamp Collector I have added a section on the stamps issued by the Guild of Merchants. See some alternative and early designs, errors and varieties, and collectable items to look out for.

Click here to view