Top 25 Purple, Pink & Blue (Post 1 - Award 1)
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I have to confess that I was both surprised and quietly chuffed when I uploaded this and saw that I’d caught this little fellow fairly cleanly. He appeared from nowhere into that exact position, obligingly stopped for a fraction of a second as the sunlight hit him, and then was gone.
I had been patiently plotting up that little bit of lavender hoping a bee might come and land somewhere on it and was just about to give up because holding the 20x magnifier in place on the back of the LCD with pressure from my eye for any length of time can become uncomfortable, so I was about to quit when there was a glint in the sunlight. I didn’t even think about it before I knew it I had moved the camera and hit the button - one shot and gone - . I hoped the focus point had found him. I checked and saw that Ihad indeed caught him but I can never tell whether something is in proper focus even with that powerful magnifier - I can tell if it is blurred, but often they look sharp but when I upload to the big screen, they are anything but.
This time it was! :^))
Hover fly in the evening sunlight on blue Erigeron (Fleabane).
I think the best version of the Bob Dylan classic Tangled up in Blue is the studio version from the album Blood on the Tracks. But if you like the original KT Tunstall does a fine rendition that is just as good ....
....now if I can just get a hold there, and stick my tongue out a teeny bit further.....
Little bee practising his mountaineering skills on a geranium.
I originally thought this fellow was a bee mimic of some sort but Sylvester K has kindly identified it for us in the comments. Thank you Sylvester.
I found this little bee chap on the physocarpus - him and lots of his buddies. You can see his hind legs are a yellowish beige colour as is part of his underbelly and clearly give the impression of pollen sacs, but instead are in fact hairy. Quite noisy fellows also which is great as it makes them easier to locate for me :^)
I got a few photographs which was due to their number and noise because under normal circumstances I can go days and days and catch nothing vaguely presentable so this was very pleasing to me. It was also double lucky as I didn't realise I was on f4, thought I had a couple stops more than that but they still turned out okay. Chuckle.
....or - Tapas dining.
Cast of Characters
Evening Sunlight,
Purple Allium.
Berberis backdrop:-
Troy the Bee.
A peek through the ferns at little Hugo taking a break and a nap in the heat. The garden benches are also Hugo's benches and this one is under the shade of a nut tree.
Red Admiral
White Buddleia
Blue Sky
A breath of fresh air during this long barrage of relentless wind and rain, which although it is still very dark, seems to have abated somewhat. For now.....
Anthophila Fabriciana
Nettle Tap Moth
I took this one last year , but as I didn't managed to capture another one this year - and these ox-eye daisies are going over, I thought I would put. it up. Actually, I haven't managed to capture a single butterfly or moth as yet this year despite there having been an abundance of them. Ah well....
This tiny nettle tap moth is said to be about 10-15mm, I'm going to say this one was no more than 10mm as I recall that was quite a small daisy it was on. Whatever, it's still the smallest moth I've never seen :^))
Incidentally, without my 20x magnifier on the lcd, there is no way I would ever have known this tiny chap was there even then.......
.....the guest being the tiny, interesting creature at the very top - not sure what he is other than tiny, for that isn't a large flower.
Blue Aquilegia and guest.
That is me. Can't think of a title. This bush near Church was covered and I mean covered in butterflies. More Monarchs then I have ever seen in one spot and nameless others. (Super windy day)
Pretty much straight from camera. A very small crop to omit ugly branch tip.
Shot for Looking Close on Friday
Theme: Combination Flora and Fauna
In the mid-day sunlight yesterday these little bees enjoyed this very small variety of aster 'Autumn Jewels Sapphire'.
In our garden.
A cone stalker......
That's quite a small variety of cone flower making this chap a pretty tiney variety of bee. I like the way he appears lost in a sea of yellow :^)
Close up he looks quite the mini bruiser.
Sprinkled with golden fairy dust.
Little bee on helianthus 'Lemon Queen'.
(comes to life when double zoomed)
Someone's got to do it....
Been meaning to put this sunny photo up for a while and kept forgetting....as we have hardly seen the sun in a month, I remembered.
Climbing all over the thistle. I don't think I know
another flower which absorbs the bees attention as much as the common thistle - almost to the point of intoxication and seeming lethargy. Nothing appears to disturb them no matterhow close you get.
Here you can see him smothered in pollen whilst buried in the flower. I came across him on my walk, was listening to the sound of the larks when I noticed the buzzing of a bee and tracked him with my ears to this thistle. One of the advantages of having very few cars travel the road I walk.
I had a bit of a job photographing this pretty little Comma butterfly which my wife pointed out to me blending in on a yellow dogwood. Even through my 20x magnifier on the LCD it was really difficult for me picking up any contrast - well, honestly, I couldn't see any. As a consequence I took a few and this was the only one worth keeping - even then she was hanging off the bottom of the photograph! (now cropped for balance) Fortunately, my frustration was surpassed only by her patience. It was worth it, she's a pretty little lady.
Japanese ornamental cherry. - Amanogawa
Very pale pink.
We have quite a few cherry trees which have all come out at once and are abundant this year. They are covered in bees, everywhere you walk there is a constant buzz. I've spent 3 days trying to capture one of these fellows with no success save this one.......so I thought I had better put it up. The problem is, by the time I locate one with my ears, and lift the camera, it still takes me a while to find it and by then -- well they don't sit still lon at the moment :^)
These Amanogawa trees are tall and slim but flower from low down so I was able to get this one....
Here’s what happened……
From up on high two pieces of bread Mr Crow does spy, a fast low pass bold as brass - two for me and none for thee. Down he swoops and up he scoops, into the beak and hoppity hop across the grass he flits, hippety hop behind the wee evergreen tree and out the other side.Hey presto - one in the beak and one in the bush, off he flies low swift and away, elegance and greed avarice and speed, up and awayready to return later this day. All for me and none for thee, all for me and none for thee…..
But what’s this!?! From out of the shrubs a little grey head does poke, swivel to the left swivel to the right….skippety-hop bippety bop, Secret Squirrel, the wily rapscallion and his magic eye….quick to the tree, round the back out the other side in his mitt the glory prize. Chitter chitter chitter, skippety-hop and bippety bop, up on the stone this my throne! Nibble nibble nibble ….King of the castle am I Mr Crow, King of the castle me and my eye, one for me and no more for thee, flap your wings and head on East, don’t turn round for this now my feast, King is I and this my throne, flap flap flap and don’t come back I’ve eaten your snack so off you pack! Nibble nibble nibble, chitter chitter chitter….…King is I, and magic my eye!
Close up of male large white butterfly,, preparing to mate and on near approach to female,who is static, in 'mating posture', on pink verbena bonariensis.
In our garden.
A copper in the cosmos.....(sigh)
Into October now and windy on this one - I never realised how very small these small copper butterflies really are. My wife measured that little white cosmos for me and the diameter was less than 5 cm!
No wonder the only times I ever capture one is when it lands on what I am actually trying to photograph!! LOL.
The most important bees in the world. Please read the article on this blog
www.greenandblue.co.uk/blogs/news/5-things-you-need-to-kn...
Looking close on Friday#Small Animals with Wings
HLCoF!
This dahlia - El Paso has been flowering for ages. I've taken a number of photographs and everyone without fail contains a stowaway dude of some description or other. This time I picked one of the smaller blooms hoping to get a 'clean shot' and when I uploaded.....there he is! Tis official - El Paso is not a bug free zone, take it as it is - or leave town.
In our garden.
Apologies for being awol but I look forward to catching up with all your latest pics :)
Have a good weekend everyone.