The intensity of rainfall

Rain. Lots and lots of rain on a day when much of Britain was enjoying warm sunshine but Argyll was under a seemingly static area of cloud and precipitation. The rainfall varied in intensity from merely heavy to truly torrential and it continued for 24 hours. It was tempting to just stay indoors but as ever, once the effort had been made to get out things didn't seem so bad.

The colour of the Wild Hyacinths (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) seemed to be very much intensified by the rain. It could be my imagination but there seem to be many more of these plants this Spring than usual.  Known as a Bluebell in England, this gorgeous plant forms carpets of violet-blue in more open woodland and seems almost to alter the quailty of light in such areas.

Along the shore another wash of colour brightened the grey day - Red Campion (Silene dioica) was growing in profusion along the shoreline and in roadside banks.  It's a favourite plant and we have an area of the garden at home with a dense area of plants.  It's reliable and flowers prolifically, but can take over in a garden!

Along a loch-side road in what is in effect Scotland's rainforest, the greens were incredibly intense due to the high rainfall.  The entire light seemed to be emerald green here; the mosses almost jewelled with sparkiling water droplets and the trunks of the Sycamore trees shining as if polished.  Despite the frankly grim weather, here was a beautiful small landscape.

The rain even seemed to please this chap - there are strange beasts abroad in the woods!

It would have been easy to stay indoors and moan about the terrible weather, but when the rain can produce such intensity perhaps it's to be welcomed?