Spring’s Emergence

A green orb spider hangs from a daisy waiting to catch it’s next prey. 1/250s 105mm F5.6 ISO 100.

The weather hasn’t been the most favourable to plants and insects coming into spring this year. With a very dry April, followed by a very wet May (and with seemingly daily frosts up until the start of that month) it has taken a lot longer for things to emerge. It’s always a concern when the bees and butterflies you are used to seeing in abundance seem to be completely absent. Thankfully, the persistent good weather over the last few weeks hasn’t just been good for those who love BBQs or going to the beach, and now we are finally seeing flowers bloom and hearing bees buzzing. This week I headed into the garden to see what I could find. If you are lucky enough to have access to a garden, then make sure to have a poke around if you haven’t already and see what spots of colour you can find. You never know, you may even find something edible like a wild strawberry.

Californian poppies provide a vivid burst of yellow and orange that almost looks too intense under bright sunlight. 1/250s 105mm F5.6 ISO 100.

However at nighttime these flowers curl up to prevent damage and moisture loss and will unfurl again when the sun rises. 1/160s 105mm F8.0 ISO 200 (flash).

Field poppies were long dismissed as merely a weed until they become a symbol of remembrance after the First World War. Most flowers emerge in the morning only to have dropped all their petals by the evening. However new flowers then emerge the next day. 1/400s 105mm F4.0 ISO 200.

Oxeye daisies are a large instantly recognisable flower that doesn’t take much imagination to understand where it’s name comes from with its large yellow centre. 1/160s 105mm F8.0 ISO 200 (flash).

The Oxeye daisies provide a good food source for the numerous blackfly which are farmed for their nectar by black ants. 1/250s 105mm F8.0 ISO 200

Whilst the field poppy is considered the symbol of remembrance in the Anglosphere in France that falls to another weed - the cornflower. 1/160s 105mm F8.0 ISO 200 (flash).

Cultivar strawberries are much larger than wild strawberries but the latter are nonetheless very tasty and worth looking for in your garden. 1/160s 105mm F8.0 ISO 64 (flash).

Campanulas are found across the northern hemisphere and are often referred to as bellflowers. The name campanula actually means ‘little bell’ in Latin. 1/160s 105mm F8.0 ISO 200 (flash).

Amazingly this ornamental quince started flowering in January and is still flowering in June. It’s not hard to see why it is so highly prized in Japan. 1/160s 105mm F8.0 ISO 200 (flash).

Yellow loosestrife is another plant commonly found in gardens that favour damp soils. 1/160s 105mm F8.0 ISO 200 (flash).

Following spawning earlier in the year, common frogs look for sheltered sources of still water to feed up in prepare for hibernation. The purple of the geraniums provide a bit of added colour. 1/250s 105mm F3.0 ISO 200.

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