Aphid...in oriental poppy

Ever since we moved to our house fifteen years ago the garden has erupted into a blaze of orange and red in early summer, as a host of oriental poppies burst into bloom. This year they are a fortnight earlier than usual, and the foliage is suffering from the drought, but the blooms are unaffected. I wanted to capture the way the sun shines through the petals and have underexposed significantly to achieve this. It was only after I took the photograph that I noticed the silhouette of the aphid in the bottom right corner!

Alex and I got to Cambridge bright and early, and he felt the exam went reasonably well, though he did admit he hadn't revised quite as thoroughly as he might have. Alex is one of the world's happy-go-lucky people, and just doesn't experience exam pressure or nerves in the way that most people do! He seemed to think reading three novels in the week leading up to the exam was a more valuable use of his time!! An accident on the northbound A14 meant there were huge tailbacks on the way home, so we diverted through the back roads of Cambridgeshire - quite scenic in its own way - but fairly slow.

After a disturbed night and and the early start, I felt pretty tired so spent the afternoon pottering around the garden. It seemed to be fledging day - a family of blue tits were foraging in the trees, and a large group of baby long-tailed tits passed through with their parents. I managed to get a few shots of them,including this juvenile preening.

PS View large to see the aphid!!