Bee Orchid - ophrys apifera

It's wonderful how plants have evolved interesting ways of getting pollinated and helping the pollinators in the process.

It is Hywel, and over how long I wonder, just makes us realise how old this earth is and her creatures are..

They are beautiful, Janey, and protected, I believe.

Yes they are Eirlys, it can take the Bee Orchid up to 6 years to produce one flower...if the flower is picked the plant has lost its chance to survive...

Good to see they are protected......well spotted!

You lucky lady - I'd love to see these.

Oh I think we've been there Janey on our way home from Yorkshire, thank goodness they have protected the place where the orchids are growing, would be a shame to lose them, thankyou for sharing....

How wonderful,Mother Nature is,Janey,and how things evolve to protect the species....it really is amazing ! such a pretty delicate little flower too,and despite the odds, being able to survive :o)

Thanks Dd and Stera....there's an interesting piece in the Weekend magazine today about our native Orchids and how we can grow them in our gardens to help with their conservation, a bit pricey for seeds or plants but would be a good investment..

It was a rather large area Lincs that was protected, and so many orchids in flower amongst other wild flowers...

It is incredible Sandra....and how many thousands of years would it take to evolve into a bee shape and colours....and after all that...not even the right bee is here, maybe it became extinct in the process....now don't you start laughing...it's had the last laugh finding a way to be self pollinating! :))

Beautiful Orchids, Janey! They immediately brought to my mind some black ones I saw in Cuenca many, many years ago!

In Cuenca, which is nearly in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula, they have an artificial beach alongside the main river. On the other side of the river there is a dirt path & the sides of it are (or at least were) wild grass & flowers. It is baked hard as iron & dry as a desert there yet I came cross several tiny black Orchid plants, growing quite happily there it seemed! I was truly amazed to see them! This happened more than than 30 years ago & I still remember them as clearly as if it were yesterday! The flowers looked exactly like tiny black bees & that was my first impression when I saw them!

That's amazing Balc, a place you wouldn't think would suit them at all, but maybe the river floods with the rains and they have adapted to these conditions.. I had a look on google for them, if you check out birdwatchingspain.net and wildnaturespain you'll see black orchids there...
Have a look Balc...

Thanks very much for the links, Janey! I visited both of them but didn't see any black Orchids. :(

Nevertheless I did see lots of photos of some marvellous Orchids I'd never heard of - or seen - before! :)

The ones I'd seen were obviously not the same ones Balc, think these were in Cantabria... Fascinating though aren't they..:))

What a beautiful 'find'.

They certainly are, Janey!

We have a couple of Orchids at home which we got in flower but have shown no signs of flowering again. One we bought reduced from £8 to 50p January 2017. It has been in our small kitchen window for over a year now but still no sign of new flowers. ?

The other one was given to us by our daughter, perhaps in February last year. That one flowered for a long time & when the flowers finally finished I put it in the kitchen with the other one but again no signs of flowers! ?

As both plants continue to be alive I suppose it's only a matter of time & patience till they flower again!

Are these the Philaenopsis or Moth Orchid Balc? I too cannot grow these at my house...over the years, I've tried all sorts, but no, they're not happy here. I think it's low natural light levels all winter, and the windows not facing the right direction.
I have a friend who can't believe how well they do for her, and she is no plant lady at all! She has a light and airy home with many south facing large windows. The Orchids do so well, sending up new stems time after time and are either in full flower or full of bursting buds..I am so envious!
She never feeds them but does give each an egg cup of tap water every Sunday morning, tipping any excess away after an hour. This is all the care she gives them and they are beautiful! Also, she takes off dead flowers, but never prunes the stems....
Good luck!

Thanks Sisis, I'll be visiting again this Springtime.:))

Thanks for that info, Janey! Yes, they are the Philaenopsis or Moth Orchid plants that we have. For the most part they are left to their own devices with an occasional watering - certainly not nearly as frequently as your friend does with hers! They get plenty of light but they are not in a particularly warm window - it faces more Northwest than anything else! The window is above our kitchen sink & gets lots of light. A couple of times a year - around the solstices - the sun will shine in through that window as it sets in the evening for a few weeks. They will have to stay there for the foreseeable future as I've nowhere else I could put them.