BACK TO ORCHIDS

After a very successful tour of Estonia looking at orchids and mammals and a few birds too, it was back to reality, well almost.
Estonia news will follow soon.
Quite surprisingly I found myself doing an orchid tour at this late date. Very successful it was too with 15 species recorded and I could have found another three had I bothered. So 18 at the end of June was unexpected to say the least.
Below are some pictures of what we saw today.

 Late Spider Orchid, notice the difference in colour and pattern.

 Albino Fragrant Orchid. Many of these about this year.

 This diminutive  orchid can be hard to find but this year some were several inches high. A good crop of more than 20 plants were found.

 Spotted Orchid in many shades and shapes

 A very dark Fragrant Orchid

 Spotted Orchid

 Lizard Orchid

Other species found today were Bee, Man, Pyramidal, Lady, Fly (gone over now), Monkey, Greater Butterfly, Twayblade, Broad-leaved Helleborine (just in bud only) and White Helleborine.
Other possibles today could have been Marsh Helleborine (in bud), Southern Marsh and Birds Nest Orchid, had we had more time.
Butterflies included Speckled Wood, Common and Adonis Blue, Painter Lady and Red Admiral, Large White, Ringlet, Large Skipper and Heath Fritillary (about 20).
A fantastic day out.