The Lady-Monkey

Following yesterday's success with the Lady orchid, the spaniel and I set off early this morning in search of the hybrid Lady-Monkey orchid (Orchis simia) at its one and only site, a spectacularly steep slope overlooking the river Thames in Oxfordshire. This orchid first appeared in 2006 and is a hybrid between two rare species, the Lady orchid and the Monkey orchid. There were a couple of Lady orchids on the slope and they were surround by perhaps sixty or seventy Lady-monkeys, mostly still in bud or just opening. It will  be worth making a return visit in a couple of weeks to see more of them. I couldn't find any pure Monkey orchids.