Cotswold sunflowers

After all the pinkness of the last few days, it was back to meetings today. I've got another one to come at 7pm this evening as well. I managed to rush up to the top of the hill and beyond to the farm shop at Bisley to,stock up with sunflower seeds for the birds. They seem to be very hungry and possibly short of food which seems strange given the summer season. We have two hungry thrush chicks that have to be fed directly by their parents, which have concerned me most of all. We don't see too many thrushes at all so I am very keen to ensure their survival which is very uncertain anyway as they are ground feeders and prone to be prey of the extensive cat population hereabouts.

As soon as I left Stroud a torrential rain storm hit the area and I had to sit out in the car to avoid being soaked before venturing into the farm shop. I noticed that they had some sunflower heads for sale, and I surmised that this was their crop in the field behind the shop. Ashley, the farmer, had told me about them last year and |I went into the field to photograph them. So I drove round the lanes to where they used to be and found that their position had been changed. There was no convenient entrance onto the rather clayey field, so I parked and walked back along the roads and luckily the rain stopped.

From the side of the road beside a dry stone wall I managed to stand on the verge safely but I couldn't vary the angle I had, and I had a prime lens so couldn't zoom to select a different shot. This was the best of the bunch and needed cropping to show the flowers and the landscape to best effect.

But I loved being out in the wind and rain and beside the fields. I must try to meet up with Ashley's brother soon, as he recently promised to take me with him and let me film him tending to his bees.