Himalayan Balsam Flower

Mrs madwill is still away at her mother’s so I had to pop to the studio this morning to receive a delivery - but whilst there we had a message to say it wouldn’t be until 4-5 p.m.

I had a couple of jobs to do there (windows to clean and some drawer units to assemble) so once I had done them I went to get supplies of food for the weekend.

After lunch I went out with Finlay and had a walk in the woods. I shot this flower which is from a Himalayan Balsam plant - also known as Policeman’s Helmet. The woods is infested with this weed - it is very attractive to bees and other insects and it grows so vigorously, smothering everything else. I think they need to organise a ‘balsam bashing’ event. The flowers range in colour from almost white and pale pink through to deep purple.

If you have a big screen and view large, you may be able to see a little tiny spider lurking just inside the top of the ‘bell’. A little black dot on a normal screen!