Cherry plum

From inside the house (provided you closed your ears to the howling wind) it seemed like a nice day. Outside it was bitterly, searingly cold, and the wind cut through every single one of the many layers of clothing I was wearing; I managed about ten minutes in the garden, I think, before fleeing back inside, where I then spent several hours trying and failing to get warm again.

It was, clearly, not a day for trying to photograph blossom - or indeed, anything at all that wasn't nailed firmly down - but a photo had to be taken, and as the large hole the squirrels have eaten through the industrial weight plastic bin in which I keep the bird seed isn't especially photogenic, I decided to try for a flower. I set the shutter speed reasonably high and shot in bursts, in the hope that as the branches blew back and forth at least some of the frames would wind up being in focus - and they were: five out of eighty were good enough to keep. This is my favourite.