A bearded orchid

The references state that this beard-orchid flowers through the spring into January but it was a bit of surprise when we found one last weekend at Bambra. Actually Barry, the birdwatcher, spotted it while we, the botanists, were sitting next to it at lunch time. Luckily we weren't actually sitting on it.

It's the Purple Beard-orchid Calochilus robertsonii, and it is quite common in this district. We had the reference books out trying to turn it into something unusual but didn't succeed. It's beautiful of course, what orchid isn't?