Beautiful photographs of poppy fields

[Still Waters]

This spectacular display of blood-red poppy fields was photographed in a moving tribute to soldiers as Britain prepares to remember its fallen heroes this weekend.

The amazing shots were taken by Alan Ranger, 43, at Blackstone Farm nature reserve in Bewdley, Worcestershire, during a one-week window when the poppies appear in full bloom.

Mr Ranger has released the photographs of the poppies - whose seeds can lie dormant in soil for more than 80 years before germinating - in time for Remembrance Sunday on November 11.

http://www.dailymail...hotographs.html

[pallidin]

Wow! That's peerrrtttyyyy.

I assume those are NOT opium poppies.

[synchronomy]

"In Flanders Fields" by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

[glorybebe]

I love poppies. Thanx for the link

[+joc]

This is my favorite picture of Poppys

[Ashotep]

They are pretty poison.

[Q-C]

My favorite flower! Delicate and beautiful. They planted them in a variety of colors along one of our interstates where we used to live.

I think we saw them all over Greece too.

[notoverrated]

if you eat poppy seed bagels you can test positive for heroin.

[Still Waters]

This spectacular display of blood-red poppy fields was photographed in a moving tribute to soldiers as Britain prepares to remember its fallen heroes this weekend.

Mr Ranger has released the photographs of the poppies - whose seeds can lie dormant in soil for more than 80 years before germinating - in time for Remembrance Sunday on November 11.

From the poem For The Fallen by Robert Laurence Binyon

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

[Mnemonix]

Makes me think of The Wizard of Oz.

[with bells on]

very pretty

[Space Commander Travis]

That photo of the poppy field in Worcestershire reminds me of the ending of the very last episode of the fourth series of Blackadder

The scene has, several times, been voted one of the greatest TV moments in history.

[Phantm]

Very beautiful! I luvs it. Thank you so much for the post, Still Waters. Much appreciated.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Phantm

[schizoidwoman]

Beautiful, SW.

[Simbi Laveau]

if you eat poppy seed bagels you can test positive for heroin.

No you can't. That's an old excuse junkies used when they were tested and work ,and flunked the test .

The seeds contain no opiates .

[TheLastLazyGun]

if you eat poppy seed bagels you can test positive for heroin.

You are confusing the opium poppy from the common poppy.

There are many species of poppy and it is the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) which produces opium. Opium is the dried latex which comes from the opium poppy. Processed chemically, this can be turned into heroin. But opium can also produce the painkiller morphine and other medical drugs such as thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine.

There are opium poppies in England. In late 2006, the British government permitted the pharmaceutical company Macfarlan Smith to cultivate opium poppies in England for medicinal reasonsafter Macfarlan Smith's primary source, India, decided to increase the price of export opium latex. This move is well received by British farmers, with a major opium poppy field based in Didcot, Oxfordshire. As of 2012, they were growing in Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire.

The poppies in the photo provided by the OP are common poppies (Papaver rhoeas), not opium poppies, and it is the common poppy which, since 1920, has been used throughout the Commonwealth as a symbol of the remembrance of soldiers who died in conflicts.

The common poppies are dark red whereas the opium poppies are usually white or pink.

Edited November 15, 2012 by TheLastLazyGun