Blazing Whins
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Blazing Whins by Anne Burgess as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Blazing Whins
Image: © Anne Burgess Taken: 8 May 2017
For just a few weeks in spring, much of the countryside is covered with the glowing yellow of whins in flower. The name is interesting. The OED says that it is probably of Scandinavian origin, and suggests that whins were probably of economic importance in areas of Scandinavian influence. More intriguingly, I have been told that whinstone was so called because whins grow preferentially on this type of rock. I am unconvinced of this, because it seems to me that whins will grow absolutely anywhere! The OED simply says that the word whin, applied to rock, is of obscure origin.
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Image Location
Latitude
56.437751
Longitude
-3.306157