News Blog
Dorset Pink Poppy Fields 2022
This year I had decided not to bother photographing any Dorset pink poppy fields. Having taken photos of opium poppies every year since 2015, I simply felt that I'd had my fill. Also, more and more people have splashed the locations of the poppy fields all over social media which has encouraged even more people to visit. All this made me not want to take any more photos of them. The thing is, I ask for permission to take photographs of the pink poppies, so I find it somewhat irksome to see fields full of random people with cameras and phones casually standing around, often chatting away...
It’s Dorset Red Poppy Field Time!
Are these the first Dorset field poppies of 2022? I was out and about today and chanced upon these Dorset red poppies, scattered amongst the pale yellow rapeseed. It was a beautiful and welcome sight and so early in the red poppy season too. I really hope to see a lot more Dorset red poppy fields this year, as 2021 wasn't too good for them.Dorset red poppies flowering amongst rapeseed.
Dorset Henbane – Rare, Poisonous & Vulnerable
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) has got to be one of the weirdest looking plants there is, certainly in this country. Not only that, it's highly poisonous, smells sickly sweet and only flowers biennially (every two years). Once seen, never forgotten.
Abbey Hill Steam Rally, Yeovil, Dorset
Sunshine, steam and motorbikes... what's not to like?!
Dorset’s Wild Orchids 2022
![Early spider-orchid [Ophrys sphegodes]. Growing in Dorset.](https://www.m35photography.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DSC0124-Edit-copy.jpg)
We are lucky in Dorset because we have what is possibly the best site for early spider-orchids in the UK. Ophrys sphegodes is also the first orchid to flower each year, heralding the start of the ‘orchid season.’ This year, I also found a woodcock orchid x Fly orchid hybrid, growing on a steep, Dorset hillside.
Barnsley Warren Pasqueflowers 2022
There are an estimated 20,000 pasqueflower plants (Pulsatilla vulgaris) growing at Barnsley Warren SSSI, in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire.
Therfield Heath Pasqueflowers 2022
Therfield Heath is renowned for its abundant colony of pasqueflowers and people travel from far and wide (like I did!) to see this annual Easter-tide spectacle. This really is the best place for 'pasqueflower action' in the UK!
Pasqueflowers at Martin Down, March 2022
The first pasqueflower to bloom at Martin Down National Nature Reserve in 2022.
The Handsel Sister Witches’ Trees, Grovely Wood
Hidden away in Grovely Wood, Wiltshire, are three very old, large and gnarled beech trees, covered in an abundance of green moss. Known as the Handsel Sister Trees, or the Witches' Trees, these have become part of folklore.
UK’s Most Poisonous Plants Photo Project
A portfolio of 6 images, for which I was awarded a RHS Silver Gilt Medal.
My ‘UK’s Most Poisonous Plants’ photo project will be on display at The Saatchi Gallery, in London, from 18th September – 9th October 2021.
End Of The Road Festival 2021, Wiltshire
Photos from End Of The Road Festival 2021 at Larmer Tree Gardens, near Blandford in Dorset.
Weird & Interesting Trees of the New Forest
A couple of years ago I started taking photographs of weird and interestingly-shaped trees that I'd found in the New Forest. To me, the shapes of many of the trees instantly reminded me of people/animals etc., although you may see something else in them, and therein lies their beauty.
Dorset Sunflower Fields
In the summer of 2021, these huge, yellow sunflowers appeared in four fields in Dorset. Attracting huge numbers of bees, butterflies and other insects, to see such a large expanse of Helianthus flowers in one place was wonderful.
Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) in Dorset
Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is not a native plant, having originally been introduced to Britain from Southern Russia and Georgia. This impressive umbellifer can reach over 3.5m (11.5ft) in height, with flower heads sometimes as large as 60cm (2ft) across.
Giant Crop Circle, North Dorset
Well, it seems that I've become a drone owner, even though I never imagined, in a million years, that I would want one. Anyway, when out and about recently I found this giant crop circle, in north Dorset. Certainly most of the locals that I met didn't even know this was there, apart from one family who'd come looking.
An Eyebright from a Hampshire downland this evening. Thinking probably Euphrasia nemorosa? @BSBIbotany
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Anyone Know , anyone of to Ukraine tomorrow , to hide in a fridge 😂😂😂
Field Gromwell Buglossoides arvensis in a Hampshire margin this evening. @BSBIbotany #wildflowerhour
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