I have been looking at thistles recently.  There seem to be more about in the fields than I remember from previous years.   The bright tuft of purple at the top make them an ideal subject for a photograph.   I had an abortive attempt at a thistle picture a week or so ago with thistles providing the foreground to a landscape of the hills of Angus in early evening sunshine after a day of rain……but my thistle were out of focus.

The main difficulty with thistle is the spikes!   it is not so easy to push one flower out of the way to get the right composition.  An evening walk by the burn gave me easy access to this flower and when I looked at the result I saw I had captured some tiny beetles too, feeding off the thistle.