In the last few days, the fields around us have changed from a rather sombre green hue to to this wonderful vibrant yellow as the oil-seed rape has come into flower. Our house is a bit behind that copse of trees in the middle of the image.
This is for my PLAY project - you can read more about it in my profile - where I'll be using a different prime lens for each month of the year: for April it's the Fujinon 27mm f/2.8 on an APS-C sensor camera (today the Fuji X-T10) - the equivalent of a 40mm lens on a full-frame camera.
OMG - lack of biodiversity.. potential of GE varieties resistant to herbicides.... equals even further loss and, as one example, reduced populations of ground nesting birds. Then there is the effect upon the honey bees that tend to specialise on oil-seed rape (well they would given that the fields are so vast) and the honey they produce that we eat... well, maybe we should accelerate the destructive process and take ourselves out with it ... allow some other species to lead the way, if indeed leadership is necessary at all. There's more to a pretty picture than meets the eye, Richard!
@yrhenwr There's also more to a pretty picture than meets the conjecture! It would be an unusual posture for me to defend modern farming practices but the role of meat-eaters and food distribution chains is non-négligeable. Oil-seed rape is sown in any given field here about once in every five years: the other years the crop will alternate between winter-sown wheat, maize. green fertiliser and, sometimes, linseed and or mustard. It so happens that the two fields north of us are sown with rape this year, the rest are mostly wheat except for a few that are being used for hay making - the first cut has already taken place.
All this is to feed dairy cows which are kept indoors of course... but that's another cause entirely!
@vignouse Too right and its all your fault for posting this pic! :-) To feed this to cattle the oil surely has to be squeezed out first? It's a lucrative commercial product.
@vignouse Likewise, couldn't live without olive oil! Forgot to say that the grumpiness may also be due to a tooth issue.... extraction last Monday and the pain from being beaten up by the dentist is still there. And this followed an atrial fibrillation episode while out on the bike the previous day!
All this is to feed dairy cows which are kept indoors of course... but that's another cause entirely!