Last year I started photographing orchids, after a chance ‘encounter’ with some pyramidal orchids [Anacamptis pyramidalis] when on a walk. At that time I was really a little too late in the season – and unprepared – to start searching for more varieties.
I’m hoping to have more success finding orchids in 2021. So far, I’ve photographed the early spider-orchid [Ophrys sphegodes] and the early-purple orchid [Orchis mascula]. Both were photographed in Dorset, over in the Purbecks. Also the burnt-tip orchid [Neotinea ustulata] at Martin Down, on the Dorset/Hampshire border.
It seems that everything is flowering late this year because of the weather, but with a few sunny days in a row now, I’m hoping to see a lot more orchids appearing in Dorset and Hampshire.
Burnt-tip orchids [Neotinea ustulata] at Martin Down Nature Reserve, Hampshire.
Southern marsh orchid [Dactylorhiza praetermissa] growing near Wimborne, Dorset.
![Early spider-orchid [Ophrys sphegodes]. Growing in Dorset.](https://www.m35photography.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DSC4135-Edit.jpg "Early spider-orchid [Ophrys sphegodes]. Growing in Dorset.")
Early-purple orchid [Orchis mascula] starting to flower. Growing in the Purbecks, Dorset.
![Early spider-orchid [Ophrys sphegodes]. Growing in the Purbecks, Dorset.](https://www.m35photography.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DSC4216-Edit.jpg "Early spider-orchid [Ophrys sphegodes]. Growing in the Purbecks, Dorset.")
Early spider-orchid [Ophrys sphegodes] starting to flower. Growing in Dorset, near Swanage.
Early-purple orchids [Orchis mascula] growing on a hillside in Dorset.
![Early purple orchid [Orchis mascula] growing in Dorset](https://www.m35photography.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DSC0034-Edit-copyCrop.jpg)
