Heaven part ll

What an amazing day!
I went with my lovely friends linda, Josie and Jackie to Marlow today to visit a couple of Nature reserves in the Chilterns for an organised orchid walk.
Personally I think this is a great idea, as you get to see very interesting species, and you have a guide to give you information, and show you where the best plants are growing and best of all it only cost £12 for the whole day!
The first reserve we visited had a great show of these beautiful orchids I have chosen as my blip today the Fly orchid (Ophrys insectifera) This orchid is listed as Vulnerable, widespread but very local. It is an excellent insect mimic which has evolved to lure male digger wasps to act as pollinators as they attempt to copulate with the flowers, which do indeed look a little like a female wasp, especially from the side. It is quite small, and in the grassland difficult to spot, but once you have an 'eye in ' you are drawn back to them again and again.
We also saw, Millitary orchid (Orchis militaris) which can only be found on two sites in the UK, Greater Butterfly orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), Lesser Butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia), White heleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium), Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera), Bird's-nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) and Common twayblade (Neottia ovata). it was amazing!!!!
We also saw loads of beautiful insects, but I am really tired so I think I will leave the telling of that for tomorrow :-)