Dactylorhiza purpurella, the first orchid of the year

A cold driech morning of drizzle over the Wastart, the temperature was only 5c, but there were house martins swooping low over one of the temporary lochans below Pitheughie, hunting insects in low wide loops over the water. As we watched the birds a pair or roe deer bounded in elegant silence round the edge of the dense whins between the two lochans before pausing on the dyke and on in to the field beyond. Several groups of gannets were passing, flying low over the sea in distinctive lines.

Northern Marsh orchid?

Closer to Pitheughie we found this single orchid growing in  a relatively dry sheltered patch of grass. The flower spike not being fully open and orchids being astonishingly promiscuous so that there are many hybrids, identification is difficult but the magenta flowers and spotted leaves suggest Northern Marsh Orchid, Dactylorhiza purpurella.