The local council in Cambridge have been ‘with the programme’ over the past couple of years, sowing areas of wild flowers and letting them be. This patch is in a park near where we live, and it’s only minutes from the centre of town.

Years ago I used to read the blog by a Norwegian photographer – Bjørn Rørslett – who had a camera converted to read the ultra-violet part of the spectrum. He showed how flowers had ‘runways’ invisible to the human eye, that guided insect pollinators like lights on a landing strip.

I never looked at the underside of a poppy or I didn’t notice the black markings that are very probably on the inside of the flower head. And I am idly wondering what the flower looks like to an insect seeing it in ultra-violet part of the spectrum.

Bjørn Rørslett fell ill with Lyme disease, and I don’t know how he fared after that. Here’s the linkto the legacy site at naturfotograf and you can find the UV photos there.

And here’s a closeup of the poppy head – a crop from the first photo.