Ragged robin Lychnis flos-cuculi is a perennial herb which tends to grow up to 80cm tall. Its flowers grow on undisturbed damp meadows in loose clumps and bloom between May and August, revealing clusters of pink, star shaped flowers with petals divided into four segments. Often referred to as Cuckoo flower, and as Crowflower during Shakespearean times, in which it was mentioned in his play ‘Hamlet’ as part of Ophelia’s garland. Habitat loss due to land drainage and reduced grazing has resulted in local declines, classifying it as Near Threatened, in England.
For thirty years, John has ventured across the world returning with stories of his experiences of the wilderness which few have encountered. He has drunk tea with Thangboche’s High Lama in the Kumbu, collected shells from Pacific beaches, run with wilderbeests in the ancient dusts of Serengeti, hiked to hidden springs of Grand Canyon, encountered walrus’, wolves and streams of caribou in the low islands of Aleutian Alaska. His travels are infused with adventure and wonderment, from Galapagos to the Andes, Namibia, Mongolia and the Amazon Basin. Closer to home, John has photographed almost all wild land locations in Britain, from the windswept tors of Cornwall to white strands of the Outer Hebrides.
As a photographer of wilderness it is the drama of landscape, its biodiversity and wild weather that attracts him most. Major expeditions including seven months spent in Antarctica, a winter in Spitzbergen and an historic four hundred mile traverse of the Greenland Icecap, John's assignments have taken him to some of the wildest lands on Earth.
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