Foraging

 

I may have gone a little overboard today posting 6 pictures of 5 different bees but hopefully they will bring a little sunshine into your day.

As I mentioned yesterday the early spring blooms combined with the sunshine certainly brought out the bees so I had some fun trying to capture some sharp images. I shot these at 1/1250s using my 100mm macro lens. A fast shutter speed was necessary to freeze the motion of the bee in flight (pic 4) where its wing almost looks like it is crafted from glass. In that image and the last one too you can see the pollen sacs beginning to fill up.

Although the bees in the other pictures appear settled on flowers they were actually constantly on the move so again the fast shutter speed was essential.

Using a macro lens also allowed me to capture lots of detail, in particular I wanted o look at the difference in their eyes. If you look at the bumble bee in the first shot his eyes are smooth, as if they have a hard black shell, I wonder how it is actually formed and what the bee can see.

In contrast the black bee in picture 5 and the honey bees in the other images all have compound eyes, if you look closely you can see they are made up of a concave array of hexagonal cells. I wonder whether this has advantages over the smooth eye of the bumble bee?

What I only spotted when I started to process these images was that the right eye of the first honey bee on the bright yellow flowers is actually damaged, it has been pushed inwards, leaving a shield shaped indentation. Perhaps he has flown into some obstacle, I am sure it must have an impact on his vision, after all, imagine what it would be like if you got hit in the eye with a big stick!!!

Spooky with a surprise ending!

 

Introducing Miss Willmott's Ghost...

I had thought I would post just one image today, from the two above, I thought that one on it's own would be quite a strong image and that to post a second might detract from the other, the problem was I couldn't decide which I liked best. Even now as I look at them I go back and forth and just as I think I like the first one best because of the ghostly wispy light in the background I then think that i prefer the angle of the flower in the second and on it goes...

I chose to photograph these in black and white because in the rain and shadow they were not that bright or colourful and I think that they actually look stunning in black and white. The lack of colour accentuates the spikiness. I also focused on individual flower heads because en masse they were a bit of a jumble but individually they are quite striking.

This by the way is a sea holly, Eryngium giganteum more commonly known as Miss Willmott's Ghost. It has earned this name after someone called Ellen Willmott who is said to have carried seeds at all times which she would plant in the gardens of fellow horticulturalists. Hopefully her habit was appreciated.

So, to the surprise ending; having intended on posting just one image (I am leaning towards the first one as my favourite) I have actually posted 3. As you can see from this last image the plant produces blue flowers which are short lived but attract all kinds of pollinators. In this case a bumblebee is taking a break and sheltering from the rain, if you look closely you will see some raindrops clinging to its fur.

Dusty Whiskers of the Humble Bumblebee

So keeping things going along the same theme as yesterday but still from my visit to Bodnant here is a fantastic macro shot of an industrious bumblebee absolutely covered in sticky pollen.

As it was buzzing around it looked like a normal yellow and black bee going about its work but getting close up I could see that much of the yellow as in fact pollen and then with the help of my trusty macro lens we can all see just how much pollen there is.

We owe so much to these little beauties and when you see this it should underline just how important they are as pollinators.

Black and White in Colour (and black and white)

I love black and white photography and so when I spotted this beautiful black and white bumblebee i thought he was a perfect subject .

I thought however that i should show him off in colour against the flowers that he was feeding on. I think he looks lovely but actually I think it looks more stunning in black and white.

Let me know what you think.

This was shot hand held with my 100mm macro lens.

Three On Top

This fabulous plant is an Echinops. The spiky seed head has a curly flower coating which quite clearly provides a feat for bees as you can see from this shot with three busy bees feasting on the nectar. There is barely enough space for them but they were too busy to notice...

Coming In To Land

I can never resist posting pictures of yellow flowers and this is a stunner. It is Hypericum forestii a plant more at home on a Chinese mountainside but here in Ness Botanical Gardens it was attracting a host of bees.

As you can see in the second picture this bumble bee was drawn to the bright colours and tasty nectar and was just coming in to land as I captured the shot.

Hard At Work

So I had gone to Ness to photograph the summer flowers but of course where there are flowers there are also going to be bugs and with my macro lens and a lot of patience I can get in close and get some great shots.

Today's selection shows a beautiful bumble bee hard at work gathering pollen from Actaea simplex "Brunette" a hardy herbaceous perennial with flowers almost as soft and furry as the bee itself.

I am really happy with these shots, not just for the clarity of the images of the bee with its strong colours and glassy wings but also for the bokeh in the first picture and while I tend not to blow my own trumpet I am sure you will agree they are pretty darned good.

Another Lavender Fix

So on Sunday I posted a few shots of some beautiful lavender and I decided to post a couple more today because I really like them a lot, almost as much as the bumblebee in the first picture that was busily collecting pollen.

It was very difficult capturing the bee because it was moving around such a lot, I particularly like the sheen, and the clarity of the veins in the wings which look so crisp.

Busy Bees

For the eagle-eyed among you it will be obvious that strictly speaking the title of today's post is not 100% accurate, more like 66% but even so every picture is a winner.

About a week ago I posted a couple of pictures of humble bumble bees busily at work sucking up the nectar and today I have a couple more, plus one of a hover fly at rest on the stem of a wild rose. 

I love my Canon 100mm macro lens because it lets me get right up close to the little things and there is always so much we would miss without a closer look. Take a close look at the final picture and you can see the individual hairs on the mandibles, the segments of the antennae and the barbs on the "foot" clasping the petal. 

Bugs and Bees

Having posted a selection of butterflies yesterday I decided to continue with a bug theme today.

As with the butterflies getting a good image of flying insects is a real challenge as they seldom stay still for more than a few seconds at a time as they are always so busily engaged in their search for food.  So I am especially pleased with the third of today's pictures which is nice and sharp, and its wings look crystal clear.

In the fourth picture of a different honey bee you can see that it has extended its proboscis to feed on the nectar.  

I don't know what the beetle in the fifth picture is, it was creeping on a stone at Gelert's Grave at Beddgelert near the River Glaslyn in North Wales. It looks almost prehistoric.

I was really excited about the last two images.  This is the larva of a cream streaked ladybird.  It had hitched ride on the window of my car and I had expected it to crawl away. But as you can see from the final picture it didn't, it hung on and metamorphosed into the adult bug.  It held on for the whole journey to and from Wales even at speeds of XX MPH.

I am pleased to report that it has now completely hatched and the fully formed ladybird is now doing whatever ladybirds do...