Jungle Queen

 Not that I  follow football but as the Women's Football World Cup is taking place at the moment I thought a picture of a Lioness would be appropriate... I am far more interested in the big cats than the soccer team actually so I was very pleased to capture this lovely shot at Chester Zoo, where the Lions have a fantastic new enclosure.

Contemplation

I went to Chester Zoo last week with members of my family and because I was with family I didn't take as many photos as I normally would but of those that I did take I would say these are the best (although I will share some of the others in the next couple of days).

This handsome chap was sat in the shade, watching everything that was going on around him and I wondered what thoughts would be going through his head. I think his features are so expressive. 
 

Dangling Marsh Lover

 

I wonder what you imagined this post would be about when you saw the title...

The Latin name for the hoverfly in the first three images is Helophilus pendulus which means "dangling marsh lover". It is the most common species of hoverfly and has quite striking markings with bold colours.

The eagle eyed visitor to this page will have noticed that the fourth image is of a different variety of hover fly (I cannot specify which) which is busy sucking up nectar from the tiny flowers.

Greeny Blue

 I have said this before when posting photos of flies, they are ugly but really interesting when viewed close up.

Normally when we see a fly we swat it away as they are a buzzing nuisance and they have the most disgusting habits, but they do play an important role as pollinators and in helping get rid of decaying stuff so while I would much rather look at damsel flies and hover flies and bees every now and then it seems fair to share an image or two of the humble and iridescent bluebottle.

Digging Deep

 I have sorted through my bug pics from last week so will be drip feeding them here over the next couple of days. Some are much better than others but I was working against the elements much of the time with strong winds and rain which made hand held macro shooting something of a challenge. The ISO on this and most of the other pics I will share was between 1250 and 5000 so I have had to do some noise reduction in the edits.

I had a couple of shots of a damsel fly resting on a nettle but to be honest I wasn't at all happy with them.

This is a Common Red Soldier beetle, it was really going to town, digging deep into the flower to get the juiciest nectar. I think it is pretty cool.

Bug

 

I went to Brockholes in Lancashire last week for a spot of wildlife photography as that is something I have not done much of lately. Unfortunately the weather conditions were shocking to begin with but as I had to pay for parking I wasn't going to leave without something. So between downpours I had a lovely time walking around the reserve and while there was not a lot of birdlife to photograph I decided to concentrate on bugs and managed to get a few decent images so all in all I had a productive day.

I have lots more images to go through but today I have also been out taking photos at the Hoylake Sand Yacht Regatta and i need to edit a few pics for the Sand yacht  club page so I will put the bugs on hold for a little while.