Sunny Side Up!

 Even on a wet and grey Monday these beautiful daisies were guaranteed to brighten things up. 

These are Oxeye daisies, or marguerite and there was a mass of them along the edge of a meadow creating a colourful border marking the edge of the path. Close up there is so much detail in the centre of these flowers so take a closer look if you can. 

Bird's-eye Speedwell

These tiny little flowers could be easily overlooked, they really are tiny. The genus is Veronica but more commonly they are known as Speedwell.

When you do take a look they are beautiful, a striking blue with lovely striped petals.

And they're not just pretty to look at, they also have several uses. First off they are edible and taste rather like watercress. They can be used to make a "tea" for things like bronchial conditions and asthma or for the treatment of disorders of the nervous system, respiratory tract, cardiovascular system and metabolism.

Standing Tall

Canon 24 - 105mm 

ISO 100   85 mm   F/4.5   1/160 sec

ISO 100   96 mm   F/4.5    1/160 sec

I love the colours in these shots and the soft focused backgrounds with hints of colour that help to highlight the flowers that are the main subjects in each picture.

Buttercups are such simple flowers and this single specimen shot against a background of bluebells is really lovely.

I also love the contrast of pink and white in the second photo with the central flower in sharp focus but the others in the foreground and background providing a soft focused frame.

Blue Glory

Canon 100 1:2.8  ISO125   f/3.5  1/160sec

When I spotted these beautiful blue flowers I thought they were Turkish Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa) a flower I have photographed before however I am not so sure.

The central element of Glory of the Snow is white with yellow stamen but here you can see the centre is grey with a blue tip. 

I have tried to identify them but I just can't be certain. Whatever they are they're really lovely and a nice splash of colour to show that spring is definitely here. I had to get dirty getting right down to snap these shots but I think it was worth it.

Blooms from Bodnant 3

So having spent the last half an hour scrolling through pictures of flowers to identify the flower in these pictures I give up.  These flowers  with several blooms on each stem were growing near the edge of the meadow (see yesterdays blog) and were the tallest plant there.  It took ages getting these pictures due to the wind which as I've said before is a major challenge when taking pictures of plants outside.  Fortunately the light was just right bringing out the vivid colours.

I hope you enjoy these pictures and if you know what they are please leave a comment below...