Bee Orchid on Chapel Green, Rockland St. Peter

I managed to overlook this plant when it was flowering but, thanks to Margaret Neale who runs the village's wonderful Rylstone B&B, I did eventually track down this fruiting Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera on Chapel Green next to our house.

Harold Neale's photograph of the same plant, taken when they found it 17 days earlier on 9th July, is a bit more impressive...

The presence of this species on our tiny plot of meadowland is a good indicator of the importance for conservation of even these small areas of appropriately-managed grassland.