Bob Jones writes:
‘Modern cameras are designed to cope when cooling zephyrs move into wintry blasts – from a dainty mobile phone to a leviathan balanced on the shoulder – go Hamza Yassin! Even so the flight path of a pollinating insect can test systems to the limit – so caress the shutter button as harmonics unfold. The moral of the story: ne’er mind the wind, make sure optical image stabilisation (IOS) is switched on.
‘These photos were taken in our garden at Caiystane in June and July of this year (click photos to enlarge)
1. Daylily flower visited by a Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus); the two moustache bands on the abdomen are unique to the species
2. The Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) likes to bask in dappled shade
3. Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa cardui) alights on a trailing begonia flower
4. Foxglove hybrid: on the left a Garden Bumblebee takes a peek before committing itself; on the right its pal goes for the direct approach with landing skids engaged
5. A bumblebee probing florets of a Featherleaf Rodgersia (Rodgersia pinnata)
6. Butterfly on Valerian – ‘red on red’
7. Sidalcia malviflora (Prairie Mallow): A Honey Bee executes a near-vertical descent, scattering pollen grains everywhere
8. A chance meeting of two Small Whites (Pieris rapae) on Inula helenium (Elecampane); on the left is a female with two wing spots, on the right a male with a single wing spot. They soon parted company
