Hypnotic Eyes, Pt. 10 - _TNY_9543 (In Explore 29/3 2024)

This is a bit of a favorite subject which I shot when I was out on a walk with my wife and son around Havtornsudd Point at the Gålö penisula in the inner archipelago of Stockholm, Sweden - on a pretty windy day.

 

Now wind obviously means less flying insects but I managed to stumble on something that was nice for my bug photography - but bad in general.

 

About halfway out there was a huge patch of plants which I initially mistook for lilac - about as high as me and like 20-25 square meters (200-225 square feet in freedom units) of it.

 

On the side away from the wind, there were loads of bugs to shoot - but the plant turned out to be Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica). This is an invasive plant which is ridiculously difficult to get rid off and having it out there really sucks.

 

By now, you're probably wondering about the subject of this photo though. Well this is one of my absolute favourite inverts, the golden-haired robberfly (Choerades marginata). It turned out to be several of them which liked to land on the large leaves of the Japanese knotweed with their head at the tip, looking left and right for potential prey to intercept mid-air.

 

At first I couldn't get close, but through trial and error I got better at approaching them without scaring them and also stabilizing the leaves they were sitting on with my off hand. This particular one was taken at 2.4:1 magnification.

 

Part 1: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52225045609/

 

Part 2 www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52246969267/

 

Part 3: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52417583057/

 

Part 4: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52458743080/

 

Part 5: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52642551746/

 

Part 6: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52732452729/

 

Part 7: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52754744072/

 

Part 8 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52943533783/

 

Part 9 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53374217187/

Done