Wednesday, May 20th 2009

Snake’s Head Fritillary by Vaksala Church

I spent the weekend in Uppsala, mainly to celebrate dad’s birthday. We had a very tight schedule, seeing Jenny’s mum and dad and my parents and some other friends, but I managed to fit in a little visit to the meadow by Vaksala kyrka.

This meadow is one of relatively few places around Uppsala where Snake’s Head Fritillary (Kungsängslilja or Fritillaria meleagris) grows, and has always been something of a favourite spot for me. This flower is the provincial flower of Uppland and is protected by law because of its rarity.

It’s quite a charming little flower which can be either a deep red or white, or a mixture of the two.

Optimally, I should have got up at the crack of dawn, around 5 am, to get the nice morning light. But having watched the Eurovision Song Contest until midnight that wasn’t really an option. Instead these shots are taken at about 9 am, so the light is a bit harsh.

I have some more shots in a set at Flickr.

Posted at 07:50. Categories: photography, Uppsala. Both comments and trackbacks are closed.

One Response to this post:

1. Marjukka Anthony says:

   March 17, 2010 at 09:51

   Hi David!

   You have some very fine pictures of Fritillaria meleagris. We would like to use one of them in a web invitation for a meeting (for a small group of lawyers). It is totally non commercial.

   With best wishes Marjukka Anthony, PTK (www.ptk.se)