Flower Friday - Wild Globe Artichoke

I've driven past a field with these artichokes growing on the edge of it for years, and every summer I've wanted to photograph them. Finally today was the day, as I had the camera and I needed a blip. It's a fairly busy road so I pulled over, put the hazards on, set the camera up for continuous shooting and carefully got out of the car. Of course the bees disappeared as soon as I got near, but I eventually managed to snap a couple! Hopefully suitable for FlowerFriday.

My blip from yesterday was a tiny Speckled Bush Cricket that I'd messed around with on GIMP. See extra for the version without the whirlpool effect. Did anyone guess it?