I usually visit my local pond to look for dragonflies and butterflies but this time it was to see the bee orchids. One or two have been there before but this time I counted at least 25 flower spikes.
It isn't a rare plant and is happiest in dry, poor chalk or limestone grassland so the recent drought might have suited it.
In the UK the bee orchid is self-pollinating but in Mediterranean regions it is pollinated by male long-horned bees which are fooled by the appearance and scent of the flower into mistaking it for a female bee. The bee orchid is Ophrys apifera, ophrys being Greek for eyebrow and apifera Latin for bee-carrying. Here are a few more photos.
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