Sad .....

The Early purple orchids are going over a bit now, but they are still very beautiful, and I couldn't resist blipping one one last time for this season. 
As the time passes the petals seem to draw further back, (presumably to expose the pollinia)  and the flowers fade as you can see,before slowly dying.
I have to confess I did feel very sad, but there is next year to look forward to! I think this year has been a really good year for this species, I counted 341 individual flower spikes along this half mile stretch of road, Can't wait to see how many there are next year!