Can you believe this!!!!!!

[El Annie]

I was stunned to read this.....................

Police clamp down on gangs stealing wild flower bulbs to order...
Snowdrops, orchids and bluebells are being stolen to order in a worrying upsurge in thefts of Britain's favourite wild flowers, senior police officers and botanists have warned. Criminal gangs and unscrupulous people in the garden trade are hiring thieves to dig up tons of wild flower bulbs and tear up acres of delicate mosses for a thriving black market in garden plants. Now, as Britain's garden centres prepare for this year's spring rush, the police have made plant and bulb stealing a key priority in their nationwide campaign to tackle wildlife crime.
More information - Independent

Annie :(

Extract from conserv@tion - http://www.habitat.org.uk/news1.htm

[winkle]

It happens.

Kent Wildlife Trust have had Green-winged Orchids dug from one of their reserves in the past.

The daft thing is most orchids need very specific soil conditions and just die in gardens.

Pointless!

Bluebells now have the same protected status as Lady Slipper Orchid, so potentially a huge fine or imprisonment for their theft or damage. One of the few plants that the UK is of international importance for.

[robinm]

We live near a wood that is a huge carpet of bluebells as far as the eye can see. To think someone might dig them up for their own selfish purposes makes my blood boil.

[seb_seb]

i didnt know it happened on a huge scale

[El Annie]

Absolutely Seb, I didn't know it happened at all and I'm staggered that people can do such things it beggers belief!

Annie :(

[seb_seb]

:(

[Geoff Simpson]

Earlier today it was reported that one of the only two speciemens of wild Lady-Slipper Orchid has been stolen from a site in Lancashire. I was given permission to photograph this exotic plant in June 2004 - I posted an image of the actual plant in flower a few weeks ago which can be seen im my gallery.

How sad some people are when surely the enjoyment is to see this plant in the wild (It is thought that it may have been stolen to order)

Regards

Geoff Simpson
www.geoffsimpson.co.uk

[Alastair Rae]

Earlier today it was reported that one of the only two speciemens of wild Lady-Slipper Orchid has been stolen from a site in Lancashire.
More worrying is that news reports have been specific about where the theft took place. I thought the location of these plants was a well kept secret.

[Brambling]

More worrying is that news reports have been specific about where the theft took place. I thought the location of these plants was a well kept secret.


Judging by the scale of the problem, it seems we are a culture who consider money to be the measure of wealth, and many people are greedy for personal profit at any cost. How much richer we should all be if the flowers were left to bloom where they choose to grow.

We are caretakers of our environment for the future generations, so this practice needs to be stopped before any further damage is done.

regards

brambling.

[Brambling]

www.geoffsimpson.co.uk[/url]


There are some beautiful images at your site Geoff, and the Stag reminded me of another act of pure mindless sacriledge in Somerset. There was a pure white Stag, that we were often told about on the regional news..Sure enough it disappeared and was later found shot. One can only question why?

Brambling