A Dr. Pepper Fan at Mjällådalen - _TNY_5445
My August part of the summer vacation of 2023 was very rainy to say the least, but I managed one trip to the Mjällådalen nature reserve together with my son, hoping to find more of the wonderful peacock beetles we saw on shot on sand banks in the water back in July. Back then, the water levels were extremely low, but we were kind of hoping there would be a chance even after the rains.
This hope for the beetles turned out to be utterly futile as the water levels were *very* high, to the point of having to get off the path and take little detours to avoid flooded areas.
It was still a great day and we enjoyed a nice pasta salad at a bench right next to a bend in the river. I brought a can of Dr. Pepper for Daniel and he was finishing it when a lager hoverfly decided to join us. She posed willingly on my finger for a couple of shots like in Pt. 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53153107543/ and Pt. 3 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53518812876/i and she then landed on the bench next to Daniel. Just to see what would happen, he put a drop of it next to Mrs. Hoverfly.
The hoverfly is a new species for me, a female white-barred peat hoverfly (Sericomyia lappona), and she took extreme liking to the soft drink and cleaned up the drop very thoroughly - which made for a good subject to capture - do zoom in on the compound eyes, both here and in Pt. 1: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53159110864/
A Dr. Pepper Fan at Mjällådalen - _TNY_5445
My August part of the summer vacation of 2023 was very rainy to say the least, but I managed one trip to the Mjällådalen nature reserve together with my son, hoping to find more of the wonderful peacock beetles we saw on shot on sand banks in the water back in July. Back then, the water levels were extremely low, but we were kind of hoping there would be a chance even after the rains.
This hope for the beetles turned out to be utterly futile as the water levels were *very* high, to the point of having to get off the path and take little detours to avoid flooded areas.
It was still a great day and we enjoyed a nice pasta salad at a bench right next to a bend in the river. I brought a can of Dr. Pepper for Daniel and he was finishing it when a lager hoverfly decided to join us. She posed willingly on my finger for a couple of shots like in Pt. 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53153107543/ and Pt. 3 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53518812876/i and she then landed on the bench next to Daniel. Just to see what would happen, he put a drop of it next to Mrs. Hoverfly.
The hoverfly is a new species for me, a female white-barred peat hoverfly (Sericomyia lappona), and she took extreme liking to the soft drink and cleaned up the drop very thoroughly - which made for a good subject to capture - do zoom in on the compound eyes, both here and in Pt. 1: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53159110864/