First orchid of the summer appears at Orchid Meadows

This is the first orchid this year to flower in our Evening Meadow. Hopefully it is a sign of things very much to come. They should be in full force by mid-June into July, when we will hold our annual orchid count. Last year we counted over 1300 flowering heads of this heath spotted orchid, plus some lesser butterfly orchids and broad-leaved helleborines.