flowers various, as food

what I photographed one night

Anemone blanda

golden hearted Romulea

the beauty of Speedwell

Wild Boar pooh and inhabitants

Himantoglossum robertiana, the Giant orchid, a first taste and delightful smell of Spring

a Buzzard showing its white necklace

Lichens

An Iris after rain or dew

Fungi various

A surprise, Centaury, early or late?

Brimstone butterfly on Rosemary in the sun

Sparrowhawk in olive tree

early? prickly pear flowers

Shuffler snail, approached by some kind of caddis fly larva

Hibernating Large Tortoiseshell butterfly

Limodorum abortivam - The Violet Limodore

We found this large and beautiful orchid one year in our wood under a holly oak - Quercus ilex.
We had cleared a foot path and let light into various areas and the following year this appeared.
Two years later it appeared again.
as far as we know it has not appeared this year. This orchid  lives in woods on decaying leaves. We have only ever had single plants, and I have never seen it any where else, probably because woods in lowland Southern Greece are like impenetrable jungles.
It is able to survive years underground without flowering. The flowers are known to be pollinated by  certain bee species, but if, as sometimes happens the flowers don't open, this plant is able to  pollinate itself. This is known as cleistogamy. This means it produces seeds which are able to produce plants without the use of insects. Many plants are able to self pollinate.