| Re: Orchids.....
I agree the first is Greater Butterfly Orchid.
The marsh orchid demonstrates the problem of dealing with single plants, particularly from photographs.
Are you sure it was really different from the other Irish Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza occidentalis)?
(N.B. It is now accepted from chromosome/DNA work that D. occidentalis is an independent species, endemic to Ireland, and has nothing to do with D. majalis, which does not occur in the British Isles.)
If it is not an aberrant D. occidentalis, then my only other suggestion is that it is a hybrid of that species with Heath-Spotted Orchid (D. maculata). The two species are said to hybridise with ease when they meet.
Alan |