Orchid hunting

I think my six months of wild flower spotting has peaked. I was astonished to find more than 30 violet helleborine (Epipactis pupurata). The leaves and stems are lightly suffused with violet. The flowering spikes are up to 18 inches high and, once you've got your eye in, the flowers almost glow in the dim light of the woodland floor. They are locally scare and talking to my botanist friend this is probably one of the largest, if not the largest, colony in the county. A week ago we didn't know they were present.