AWARDS: ENGLAND / WILTSHIRE / LAKE DISTRICT / WALES / SCOTLAND / COAST OF S.W. ENGLAND / COAST / STORMS / LAKES & MOUNTAINS / WINTER LANDSCAPES / DESERTS / ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY / BRITISH BIRDS 1 / BRITISH BIRDS 2 / BRITISH MAMMALS / BRITISH INSECTS / WORLD BIRDS / WORLD MAMMALS / NATURE
FROSTED SNAKE’S HEAD FRITILLARY
The snake's head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) is a nationally rare plant, of which most of the British population is found in Thames vale meadows of north Wiltshire. Flowering in mid-April, it astonishes me how these delicate plants are able to withstand hard frost. I arrived at the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's Clattinger Farm meadow before sunrise to capture this image of a fritillary encased in tiny crystals of ice. Using a 230mm telephoto lens with the aperture wide open enabled me to show the fritillary in sharp focus, well separated from a diffuse background.
F/5.6, 1/8th second, ISO 800
Accepted: South Devon 2016, Welsh International 2016, Smethwick 2016
