I was walking along a stretch of the Grantham Canal this morning and spotted several white campions (Silene latifolia) in flower in the darkest depths of December. Today is the shortest day of the year – I had previously thought it was always the 21st December but my Woodland Trust calendar assured me it was the 22nd this year and, thanks to the intricacies of leap-years, they are right!
It was 7:50am and still half an hour before sunrise on a very blustery morning which meant that the flowers were disinclined to stay still long enough for the camera to capture a crisp image in the dawn twilight. Fortunately sometimes, misfortune turns to your favour and I am rather pleased with the results. The darkest day of the year, when the available daylight is at its lowest ebb, must be one of the most inhospitable times for a flower to flourish and I think something of that is captured in these images.
Another Country Diary 
My mother’s birthday was 21st December and she always told us that she was born on the shortest day of the year, so that is what I have always believed too.
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It was my nana’s birthday too and she said the same – it’s the solstice in most years but I guess it shifts to the 22nd intermittently?
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