… otherwise known as cuckooflower, or even milkmaid.
I know that, because having enlisted M in helping me to identify this plant which I found whilst out walking, he wouldn't give up until we found the right match - which took a long while.
Apparently the first bloom of the cuckoo flower is an accurate predictor of the first hearing of the cuckoo in Spring. I'm not sure about that. I hadn't seen these in bloom on my walks until this day, and yet we heard our first cuckoo call in the same area two weeks previously.
Another thing we learned, is that the leaves of the flower are edible and make a good replacement for cress in a salad. Yet to put this to the test.
And thirdly, the flower, known as the milkmaid in Cheshire, is the county flower. Well I never knew that and I grew up in Cheshire.
Amazing what you can learn once you show a little interest!
Actually, I should add a fourth fact. These flowers are very attractive to the orange tip butterfly. With a fondness for wild life, salads, and Cheshire, M is now keen to source these little beauties to plant in our 'wild' border (which is still more a matter of imagination than substance) at the back of the garden.
What, in fact, I was setting out to learn, and what consequently delayed me considerably on my Saturday morning meander, was how to use the manual focus on my camera.
I think I got the hang of it - well sort of anyway - not every shot was pin sharp focus.
Post script ... I have just realused this was taken using my phone camera. I was also practicing with that and making comparisons and hadn't realised at time of posting yesterday that this was mot one of my manual focussed shots. Ill have to go back and check they were in focus too ! Woops.
maybe not every shot was - but this one is! what a rich narrative you've provided also - i am hopeless on wild flowers and eager to learn more. discovered that we'd seen some red campion on our bike ride yesterday, once i got home! i'd like to try this lady's smock leaves in a salad if i ever recognised one again. thank you for the education and the beautiful shot
Your focus is spectacular here. One of my cameras I can use manual focus quite easily, the other I still haven’t learned...I shall take inspiration from you!
Tack sharp focus here...well done! I thoroughly enjoyed your commentary. I love diving into information about flowers. I hope you find some of these beauties for your border!
Beautiful! Camera phones are so annoyingly good! I like to set mine difficult tasks such as making it cope with a wide dynamic range! It doesn't, of course! Then I'm not annoyed any more! I didn't know this was edible but the calorific value is negligible so I'm not interested in eating it ! Gimme energy density every time!
May 6th, 2020
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