Fritillaria meleagris

This is the Fritillary. Also called Snake's Head Fritillary. Or Checkered Daffodil. Or Chess Flower. Also Frog-cup. Some call it Guinea-hen Flower. Others Leper Lily. Just Snake's Head is the original English name. In Dutch it's Lapwing Flower (well that would be the translated name). Let's stick to Fritillary.

After a very short night due to deadlines and last-minute work we had a very nice excursuion. These Fritillaries bloom only a couple of weeks in a very restricted areas; in fact, this place near Zwolle is one of the very few places in Europe. Normally it is not accessible but once in two years (today) an excursion is arranged to see the blooming Fritillaries. It's a beautiful sight, but I have my concerns about the implications that the manegement of the area have, because the conservation of this species has it's costs, particularly for meadow birds.

Gracias Lidia, for letting me blip you in the background :-) Lidia was very happy with the weather today; coming from Spain the Dutch weather can be very frustrating....

I very much regretted not taking the big camera today; the weather and scenery was way too good for my point-and-shoot! Then I would be squatting down like this guy...

Also backblipped my Earth Day blip!