Red Campion

Red campion, a wildflower that's popular with local insects such as bees and hoverflies, is now out along the verges and in the dappled shade of woodland, a cheerful splash of colour that will last well into the summer. It isn't a spectacular flower, more a workhorse than a thoroughbred, but I have a particular affection for it as I remember using it as a subject for a drawing when I was at my prep school.

Art was a stressful subject as it was taken by the headmaster, of whom we were all terrified. He fancied himself as a painter and could be very sharp in his criticism of our efforts, but for some reason he liked my campion picture, along with some sketches I had done of young rabbits playing on the lawn outside the back of the house, and felt them good enough for me to win the art prize.

I remember keeping the picture in amongst the other rubbish that follows me around, until we left Essex when, in the clear-out preparatory to our emigration to Scotland, it went in to the bin.