The last few days have been brilliant for seeing all the lovely spring flowers putting on a great show and many people celebrating the spring equinox and this got me thinking.

When is the actual spring equinox and why is it so important to know the date? But before we get into that. Look at this beauty. 

<center><h2>Anemone Blanda</h2></center>
<center>![flower.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVFNEeYa4p9wSbvqY6DhLtMY1nkm8qgqHpVhhrocKk2CC/flower.jpg)</center> 

I didn't know what this flower was called so I did an image search and Google misidentified it as a water lily? So much for Google search. 


<center><h2>Anemone Blanda</h2></center>
<center>![flower2.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmf4boHfZ52nLLcydtZLys4HdAyszPQxaCAPaFxjFFRLCp/flower2.jpg)</center>

Anyhow back to the equinox. 

Basically this is where the Earth's equator is on a horizontal angle with the plane of the Sun and day and night are equal in length. After the spring equinox the daylight hours grow longer. 

Why is this important? In the past it signalled to our ancestors that the long winter was over and that they had survived the worst time of the year for food gathering. Spring saw new growth and an abundance of food was on the way.

So why is there a confusion about the date?

There is no confusion. Astronomically the earth's equator wobbles around it's axis and this leads to variations in the exact date of the Spring Equinox. It can occur on any of these three days. This year the Spring Equinox fell on the 21st March 2019 in Japan and 20th March 2019 in the UK.

For marketing purposes some bright spark in the greetings card business decided that the spring equinox should be on the 20th March every year and hence the confusion on the exact date? 

There is no exact date. It can fall on any of these three days depending on the Earth sidereal rotation and wobble and so depending on where you are in the world it can fall on two of these three days within a 24 hour period.

It would be interesting to hear how the flat earth theorists would explain this annual phenomenon.  Have a lovely day folks.


<center><h2>My camera gear</h2>

[EOS Canon 70D](https://amzn.to/2Lgrn5V)
[Sigma 30 mm](https://amzn.to/2IB6S63)
[Sigma 20 mm](https://amzn.to/2rVSQB1)
[Pixel Shutter Cable Release]( https://amzn.to/2ka9NEf)
[Travel tripod](https://amzn.to/2IvGlqF)</center>


<table>

<tr><td>Category</td><td><b>(Macro photography)
<tr><td>Camera</td><td><b>(Canon EOS 70D)
<tr><td>Exposure</td><td><b>(1/160)
<tr><td>f Stop</td><td><b>(f/5.6)
<tr><td>ISO</td><td><b>(100)
<tr><td>Lens</td><td><b>(Canon 30 mm lens)
<tr><td>Location</td><td><b>Cambridegshire, England</b></td></tr>


</table>

</center>

[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 52.351832 lat 0.042930 long Erith Bridge,Huntingdon d3scr)