MACRO

The May blossom is now out in Shropshire, so it's time to put your winter coat into the wardrobe. Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna.

This could be mistaken for a dandelion, but there are some obvious differences. The seedhead is flatter than that of a dandelion. The stem bears scale-leaves in early spring, whereas the stem of a dandelion is smooth. The leaves appear after the flowers have gone to seed and are shaped like a horse shoe, hence the common name. The leaves of a dandelion resemble lion's teeth, hence the common name 'dandelion' from the French 'dent de lion'.

The delicate Field pansy is a wild relative of our garden pansy and can be found in fields and on waste ground and roadside verges - anywhere the ground has been disturbed. Its long-stalked, pale yellow flowers can be found winding their way through the grasses from April to October. Field pansies are annuals, so they live for one growing season, flowering, seeding and dying off. Only the dormant seeds survive, ready for the next season. The flowers are cream or pale yellow with cream upper petals and more rarely blue or violet. Each flower is about 10-15mm in size. You have to keep your eyes peeled to see them.

Herb-robert is a type of crane's-bill that is found in a variety of habitats, including woodland, hedgerows, rocky or exposed areas, scree slopes and coastal areas. Look for it in areas of shade away from acidic soils. Its small, pink flowers mainly appear between May and September. Herb robert (Geranium robertianum) has small crane’s-bill pink flowers and pungent foliage. It grows commonly in shaded areas where it can be a useful ground cover but its tendency to selfseed can make it a nuisance as a garden weed.

Today's challenge: "Bright, bold colours filling the frame, abstract or real"

The Small Tortoiseshell is among the most well-known butterflies in Britain and Ireland. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of nettles.

A given flower is open only for a single day, opening before dawn and closing in the afternoon. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus

For this week in SSC, Saturday Self Challenge: "Something from the Garden" All the flowers in the garden yesterday and this morning were covered in raindrops. I liked the way that the hairs on this cultivated clover plant caught the drops.

Or possibly the Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola. These little butterflies were ubiquitous here, flitting around in the tall grasses and mostly sipping nectar from hard-heads, Centaurea / knapweed..