Orchids etc. a quick wildlfower fix

Adventures in Orchidaceae pt 11 .. big lizards walk the land once more ..

Another day of orchid hunting and another Big Day Out given the quality of species encountered!

Pyramidal Orchid
(Anacamptis pyramidalis)

Bee Orchid
(Ophrys apifera)

Lizard Orchid
(Himantoglossum hircinum)

Common Spotted-orchid
(Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

Field Cow-wheat

(Melampyrum arvense)

Ivy Broomrape (Orabanche hederae)

Bee Orchid

Common Twayblade
(Neotiia ovata)

Greater Butterfly Orchid
(Plantantera chlorantha)

Chalk Fragrant Orchid
(Gymnadenia conopsea)

Common Spotted-Orchid
author's back garden

.. "Wildflowers don't care where they grow .."

"So I uprooted myself from home ground and left
Took my dreams and I took to the road
When a flower grows wild it can always survive
Wildflowers don't care where they grow"

Parton, D 1986

Anacamptis pyramidalis

Melampyrum arvense

Acinos arvensis

Orobanche hederae

Rosa micrantha

Having returned from a road trip, that took in some pretty stunning wildflowers - I took a late afternoon walk around the back garden, and noticed for the first time a single spike of Orobanche minor just starting to open its flowers.

This is only the second garden record - the first being in 2017 - this new spike some 2m away from the original site.

Orobanche minor

The broomrape was not the only surprise that the garden threw me, as a Sphinx ligustri was roosting on the outside of the bug-hotel.