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In this last week of May, the weather has switched from weeks of blustery cold to days of enervating heatwave. How did this happen?

Things began to warm up last Friday. By sunrise on Sunday, there was no doubt about it: summer had well and truly come to Bishop’s Castle. Towards 7 a.m., the sun just topping the town rooftops, I went out in the garden. There had been a heavy dew and all was glistening. I kicked off my shoes and walked on the wet grass. It was very cold – champagne for the soles!

It’s odd, though, how you can go into a familiar place at an unfamiliar hour and feel an intruder. The garden was not expecting me. It was immersed in its own business. There was a sense of immanence. A discernible  energy. Still cool, but also voluptuous as if you might wallow in it. Also in the early light, the flowers had other-worldly looks; their intimate, intricate structures very strange at close quarters. Again, a sense of intrusion.

But then that made it just the moment to ponder on Egidio’s this-week’s theme at Lens-Artists. He’s put us on the spot, and literally too, proposing that we restrict ourselves  to a well-defined small space and photograph what strikes us there. It seems a perfect exercise for exploring the familiar, the taken-for-granted, with fresh eyes.

And so the header photo – a result of peering more closely. Quite eye-opening actually – to notice the astonishing number of miniscule components needed to make a blackberry. Here it is again:

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These next photos conjured thoughts of  alien spacecraft…

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And then there’s the extraordinary pollinator guidance system of foxgloves – not only the captivating flight path of spots and dots, but also a landing pad covered in tiny filaments – and for what? Massage services for bees as well as the pollen fix?

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And finally some simple things that pleased this gardener’s eye…noticing a corner by the shed that is entirely the garden’s own work – assorted volunteer columbines and another foxglove.

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…and then the  lantern-like looks of alliums and snapdragons, caught with surprising vividness in early morning shadow…

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Lens-Artists: Stuck in place  This week Egidio asks us to focus on a particular space, no more than 10-15 paces in any direction, and consider its parts with fresh eyes. How will you capture them?

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Copyright 2026 Tish Farrell