Bee ochids (Ophrys apifera) with their laughing mouths and bright black ‘eyes’ look like little gnomes (or those baby rocker toys). Of course they also look a bit like bees if you ignore the details. The flowers are self pollinating in the UK (we have the wrong type of bees).
On the other hand foxgloves never seem to be without a few bumble bees deep in the recesses of their hairy bells
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Frogend dweller's Blog 
That first picture is so neat!
Thanks. The apparent grin on its face makes me laugh.
What beautiful photographs. Thank you.
Thanks so much. I find myself whipping out my camera everytime I see a bumblebee on the foxgloves to see if I can take a better one. It is addictive.
Yes, isn’t it great to appreciate Nature.
Glorious photos.
Thank you!
How beautiful and how very ‘bee-like’. I was looking at a wildflower ID board at Westonbirt Arboretum last weekend and hoping to see this orchid in their chalk downlands but it seems it’s a bit early yet over here, so your post was a specially lovely treat.
That is a surprise, I didn’t realise there was that much of a lag. I think they are early this year though since I have end of June/beginning of July flagged for going to the quarry to check for orchids there (there are 4 kinds growing there).
Gorgeous shots!
Thanks Tina.
Do you have bee orchids in the garden? I get the odd one now and again. I wish they would colonise, but they don’ t. Whereas a friend has them all over the lawn and her husband mows them down. Can you imagine such vandalism? He allws them on the banks of his moat, but not on the lawn. Grounds for divorce, I ‘ d say.
Oh I wish that I did, but I found this little colony in the fields over the back, when I was taking pictures of ox-eye daisies. Yesterday we went to a garden open day in the next village and there were plenty of bee orchids in one of the back gardens. Have you tried gathering seed? Sounds terrible for your friend, but maybe he is actually spreading them as they move/seed around!
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