The Lady

Facing an afternoon of executor duties I decided to spend the morning looking for the rare and critically endangered Lady Orchid (Orchis purpurea) which I haven't seen for many years. The Lady Orchid at its only site in East Sussex was apparently stolen a couple of years ago, but its still here in Oxfordshire, somewhere. After a couple of hours searching in the places I remember seeing it before I found two plants in flower (the flowers are supposed to resemble ladies in crinoline ball gowns). 

Buoyed with my success I'm planning to look for the hybrid Lady-monkey orchid tomorrow. This hybrid is known to exist at only one site in the world and that is only a few miles from where I am now.