The Orchids are here.

The annual orchid season has begun.
In our small Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty we have 16 different Orchids and we try to see all of them each year. Yesterday was the annual National Trust orchid count day at this location.
There were 4588 Green winged orchids and 3340 Early Purples.

Here are two to get things underway.

My main blip is the Green winged Orchid, Anacamptis morio. Our best local site has thousands of these. Almost all of them have deep purple flowers. But a tiny number have white ones or as here a rather attractive pink.

My extras show an Early Purple Orchid. These have black or purple spots on the leaves. When they first open they have a lovely odour like Lilly of the Valley but unfortunate when they go over Tom cat comes to mind.

My second extra shows that this lovely sight has more than orchids. The Cowslips are good too.