Box Hill Again...

I know, I know - enough with the butterflies already. But what's a fellow to do? I went for a walk on Box Hill earlier today and I saw not one, not two, but three of these beauties. It's the Dark Green Fritillary - almost as spectacular as the Silver-Washed, and every bit as beautiful, but a little smaller and favouring open land. The ones I saw today were on flowery downland, on the dip slope of the hill, flying strongly (as they do) and hard to follow, so I never quite managed a close-up look. But, talking of flowers, I did have the pleasure of taking a long close look at a Bee Orchid - and to feel the furry body of the 'bee'. Why is the flower formed in this strange simulacrum of a bumble bee? There's an obvious answer: to attract bumble bees to attempt to mate with the decoy bee and thereby pollinate the flower. But in Britain this has never been observed, and the flower is self-pollinating. So the real answer is rather the one that fits so many cases: No one knows. When it comes to orchids - and butterflies - nature seems to be exuberantly playful.