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Dr Richard Bate

@thenewgalaxy.bsky.social

830 followers 260 following 130 posts

That guy who found a ghost #orchid Botanist with particular interest in British & European #Orchids. Tour leader for Mariposa Nature and member of #Wildflowerhour team Have placed #dental implants since 2009, favouring Southern site-specific systems

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 3d

4/10/25 #Madeira - Madeira Chaffinch (Fringilla maderensis) taking a bath in a levada. Known as “tentilhão” this #bird is #endemic to this wonderful island, and is not found anywhere else is Macaronesia. My good friend @dunnjons.bsky.social standing to my right!

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 3d

It’s not all been about orchids this past 24 hours in Madeira - @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social and I have been enjoying all the wildlife. Ferns, fungi, lichen, birds and, of course, butterflies. Yesterday we met some box-fresh Long-tailed Blue.

Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) © Jon Dunn

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 4d

One of the very best days, #orchid -hunting with my good mate and fellow @mariposanature.bsky.social leader @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social in Madeira. We found over 20 flowering plants of European über-rarity, Goodyera macrophylla. A day of amazing plants, great company, good laughs, and muddy boots!

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 4d

4/10/25 - There are always great #orchids to be seen in #Orctober but you have to put yourself out there to find them!

Goodyera macrophylla is an endemic of #Madeira and one you have to put a real shift in for! Joined by my good friend @dunnjons.bsky.social every step of the way #teamorchid

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · Oct 31

Today seems like a good day for a ghost story... 🧵

The first Ghost Orchid to be recorded in Britain was found in July 1854 by Mrs Anderton Smith in Herefordshire. Not recognising it, she picked it, and it was sent away to be identified. (1/12)

(This image, from 1978, c/o A.Wake)

Ghost Orchid growing from leaf litter, 1978, photographer A. Wake

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 7d

All I’m going to say mate, is Ophrys eptapigiensis 🙏🏻

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Duncan Dine @duncan-dine.bsky.social · Sep 1

So officially we’re In metro logical Autumn as of today , still going strong Painswick Golf Course Gloucestershire , Ladies-tresses @ukorchids.bsky.social @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social

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Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · Aug 18

Good morning & welcome to a new week!

Our featured tour this week is Orchids of Crete, led by our star orchid guide Dr Richard Bate. A guaranteed departure next April, like all our orchid tours it naturally generates a donation to support @bsbibotany.bsky.social.

mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

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Ryan Kinnett @rkinnett.bsky.social · Aug 15

I photographed dwarf planet Pluto last night at a distance of 4.3 billion km from Stony Ridge Observatory. We just passed opposition, the closest we’ll get to Pluto all year. At apparent magnitude 14, Pluto should be detectable with modest backyard telescopes and #Astrophotography equipment.

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BSBI Botany @bsbibotany.bsky.social · Aug 14

We just published a new issue of #BritishandIrishBotany, our Open Access online journal.
7 papers for you to enjoy inc Lady's-slipper orchid reintroductions; variation in Restharrows; a new Comfrey hybrid for UK; montane plants; sea-grapes new to Europe!
bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/08/brit...

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Chris Thorogood @christhorogood.bsky.social · Aug 14

The world's smallest and largest flowers:

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Aug 14

One of my favourite sites anywhere in the world that one. Found my first Musk Orchid there in 1997

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Duncan Dine @duncan-dine.bsky.social · Aug 14

Bookending my first and last UK Orchids of the year in UK from Swifts Hill Gloucestershire this afternoon Autumn - Ladies Tresses, seen in double figures @ukorchids.bsky.social @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Aug 12

It’s been unusually hot at altitude across France for several weeks; the plants appeared to be coming through okay but faded quickly

Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Aug 12

Today’s a year to the day that I came across a Ghost #Orchid in flower here in the UK. Last week, I travelled over to the South of France and visited a number of sites with my good friend and Mariposa co-leader @dunnjons.bsky.social where we saw some lovely examples, in good numbers

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · Aug 9

An immensely enjoyable day orchid-hunting today in the French Haute Alpes with my good friend @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social - pleasingly, we found lots of both Gymnadenia rhellicani and Chamorchis alpina. Plus heaps of other great wildflowers, and butterflies too.

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · Aug 10

Spectacular scenery as my good friend @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social and I have made our way through the French Alps today. Our mission? More Ghost Orchid. Safe to say mission accomplished.

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Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · Aug 4

Good morning, and welcome to a new week!

Our featured tour this week is Orchids of Cyprus, a marvellous way to start the spring, looking for orchids (and other wildlife) on this warm and friendly island with @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social & Dave Fairhurst. (1/2)

mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · Aug 7

The stellar Ghost Orchid hunting skills of @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social on full display this afternoon in the French Alps. Within ONE minute of getting on a new site, he'd found us a flowering plant! There's nobody better at finding these elusive forest wraiths.

Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum) © Jon Dunn

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Aug 10

This is indeed a Frog Orchid; Dactylorhiza viridis (syn Coeloglossum viride)

Lovely species with a wide distribution across the Northern Hemisphere and like many orchids an indicator of a good habitat

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Jul 27

27/7/25 Cumbria - #HuttonRoof treats us to a very interesting #orchid some years. It's clearly from the Epipactis phyllanthes group but quite unlike anything else I've seen in the UK, most closely matching the description of a Scandinavian taxon, var. confusa #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Jul 21

I agree with all of those IDs, what lovely plants!

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Jul 21

Yes that’s a good shout for ssp coccinea

Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Jul 21

Markings on that D. maculata are absolutely awesome

Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · Jul 21

For me, these are far more likely to represent hybrids with other species, in this case I’m getting Early Marsh (D. incarnata) vibes but diluted backcrosses and multiple hybridisation events can result in plants that are difficult to identify without context

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