Marbled White Butterfly

 

This is one of my favorite butterfly shots I uploaded to the Alamy stock agency a couple of summers ago... a Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) feeding on a Small Black Knapweed flowerhead. Early morning is a good time to see the Marbled White as it absorbs the warmth of the sun's rays with open wings. This species can be seen quite easily, even from a distance, and you may see a flower head with several adults feeding on nectar together... especially on the rich food sources Thistle and Knapweed.

Soft Plum Blossom

 

The Plum - which I will always recognize in future after reading-up on the blossom shown here - has many forms and varieties... my favorite being the Mirabelle, which I have never seen growing in England, but is common here in France. It was probably cultivated for European soils by the Romans, from origins in the Anatolia Caucasus. Shakespeare refers to cultivated Plums, Prunes and Damsons... and many gardens of his generation must have contained a large variety of those fruits.

His contemporary, Gerard, in his own 1597 Herball wrote... "To write of Plums particularly would require a peculiar volume... Every clymate hath his owne fruite, far different from that of other countries; my selfe have threescore sorts in my garden, and all strange and rare; there be in other places many more common, and yet yearly commeth to our hands others not before knowne."

Spring Snowdrops, France

This image of Spring Snowdrops in a French country garden shows one of the first and most joyful plants to arrive and brighten our new year. You will also notice the well-known photographic "out-of-focus do-nut hi-lights" effect created by the 500mm f/8 Reflex-Nikkor lens. The early-morning, freshly dew-covered grass has been specifically enhanced by the use of this lens, a special effect an ordinary camera lens could not have achieved.