A New Orchid

To access the beach and links at Littleferry on Friday involved a walk through Ferry Woods, a very uniform pine plantation which surrounds Loch Unes, during which we had the good fortune to glance at what at first sight appeared to be.... 

....an uninspiring part of the forest floor.

However.... look closely, for there are three....

 

....small orchids growing there, all creeping lady's tresses, an exciting new orchid for us as we had found its relative, Irish lady's tresses, some years ago in the meadow above our house in Kilchoan.

While creeping lady's tresses aren't as rare as Irish lady's tresses, the species is described as 'Nationally Scarce' but is reported to be abundant in certain places in Scotland - and Littleferry is obviously one as, once we knew what we were looking for, we kept finding more.

One of its characteristics is that all the flowers face in the same direction and are....

....hairy. Like its Irish cousin, it's a delicate rather than a spectacular orchid, and I am still fervently hoping we will find one of the helleborines before the summer is out.