Bee orchid

This morning | went to Llanymynech Rocks for a walk. I bumped into the warden, I know him well through the Wildlife Trust and we had a good chat.  

The area has always had a patch of bee orchids and as rock climbers use the area one of the volunteers had put stones around them to avoid them being trodden on.  Shortly afterwards they all disappeared - there are rumours flying around that they have been dug up for someone's garden . It's such a mean thing to do and they probably won't have the right conditions to grow either.

He had found one solitary plant  in an out of the way spot and took me to it. I'd never have found it on my own so it was lucky that I met him.  I sent him this shot as he wanted a photo to use in his talks. I hope that the lone plant will thrive and hopefully spread.

Bee orchids have flowers that look like a female bee. The male bee tries to mate with it and pollinates the flower. Clever nature! 

There were lots of flowers, bees and butterflies (common blue, small heath, small skipper and meadow brown) and it was a lovely walk in the sunshine.