Orchid Report

I'm still unable to walk in the countryside, despite my leg being very much better, because the one area which is still painful is the ankle, which has two effects: I haven't been able to drive the car to places like Littleferry and I can't wear a hard shoe. However, I did manage another walk up the track beyond our house, wearing a pair of soft moccasins, and on it Mrs MW spotted this flower, one of two almost buried under vegetation at the side of the track.

I've had some difficulty identifying it. It's not far from a spot where there are several heath spotted orchids so I assumed this would be the same. However, it may be a common spotted, a species which, locally, is far from common: in fact, we've only found it in one other place, Golspie Glen. If it is a common spotted, then this year I will have seen four out of the five orchids growing in this area, the one remaining one being the heath fragrant - and to reach the only place where they grow locally is quite a trek.