Flaming June?

British people are renowned for talking about the weather, myself included. It is not surprising because from one week to the next we don't know what to expect.

We had a heatwave in March. April was the wettest in the last hundred years. The rain continued into May but halfway through the month it changed into another heatwave. We sweltered in unseasonable temperatures for about 2 weeks and now it has changed back to winter!

We have stormy winds, heavy rain and it is so cold that we have turned the central heating back on - 2 weeks from mid-summers day!

This weirdness is also reflected in the garden. Some things have flowered early, some have hardly flowered at all, but sadly the wind and rain are damaging the blooms.

The baby birds have all been born early. There are dozens of squirrels, but virtually no moths or butterflies. Completely topsy turvy.

This leads me on to the photo above. We found this juvenile great spotted woodpecker on the patio. It had obviously flown into the window and stunned itself. I kept an eye open for predators to make sure it recovered before the magpies took an interest. At the same time I got this lovely close-up. The red head shows that it is a juvenile.

I am happy to say it flew off unharmed not long after taking this photo :)

I have continued to take more flower photos after building up the momentum with my April challenge. However, it has mostly been too windy to take flower shots outdoors.

I rather like this picture of Aquilegia. It is an intriguingly complex flower.

Below, is a close-up of the tiny Pyracantha flowers. I find it interesting that the anthers on the stamens are different colours on the same stem. Some flowers have orange anthers and other, white.


It will be interesting to see how the remainder of this summer progresses. The year has been full of surprises so far.