Dusk fritillaries

A hectic day! Chris had rung last night to say that he was coming home for the weekend, to do some voluntary water-beetle surveys on a couple of Wildlife Trust reserves. This led to a flurry of bed-changing, cleaning and cooking. He arrived just before midday, and once we'd eaten lunch I drove him out to the first reserve, just on the other side of the river.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing chemistry revision with Ben and Niall. We were revising all the chemical tests for various anions and cations, so lots for them to remember. Once we'd finished I went to collect Chris. Niall stayed for dinner, so it was approaching dusk before I managed to take Rosie for a rather short walk.

I missed the sunset, but enjoyed walking along in the gloom, accompanied by evening bird song, and the sweet scent of flowering blackthorn and wild cherry. The heron was about, and tonight it had caught a large fish by spearing it on the end of its beak. I could scarcely make out what was happening, as it was standing on the other side of the river, but amazingly the camera managed to capture some passable record shots.

I turned back through the small hay meadow where a flash of white caught my eye. The snake's-head fritillaries were in flower, at last! I'd been to look for them last week, but they're very hard to see unless in full bloom. I took a couple of quick record shots, not thinking they would come out, as there was scarcely enough light for me to see them with the naked eye, and I didn't have my monopod or tripod. Amazingly I got a couple of images and actually quite liked the effect! This certainly wouldn't have been possible with my other camera - look at the ISO!