Papaver rhoeas - Field Poppy/Common Poppy - (Papaveraceae)

Common throughout the central and eastern parts of the UK and Ireland, the Common Poppy is less so in the north and in Scotland.

There can be few lovelier sights than a field of poppies... and sad to say few rarer sights in most parts of Britain. Poppies are still plentiful on motorway cuttings and anywhere that light, sandy soil has been recently disturbed. In Europe (in the Mediterranean in particular) where less intensive farming regimes are used it is still common to see fields full of poppies.

The poppy flowers from June until August. The pictures on this page were taken in West Wales in June.