A little more from my garden...

A lot of my time has been taken up with other things for the last few weeks, and the weather has not helped us wildlife photographers!

BUT! With my daily trips down the garden I have managed to get a few shots, and a blog entry is overdue...so here is a little more from the garden!

Ok, we saw this lovely lady last time. But just wanted to show you that she is still around, and still comes when her web is tickled! I am sure she has grown since last time... and those fangs!

Hover flies are always one of my favourites. Often overlooked, or mistaken for wasps by children, they are harmless and beautiful. Just look at those huge eyes!

We are enjoying a huge variety of these insects this year, especially around the wild area near the pond. This is one of the 'bee' mimicking hover flies that use their resemblance to bees or wasps to convince potential predators (falsely) that they have a real sting in the tail.

Moving on - but only just below the hover fly, one of our resident frogs watching me take my pictures! The floating weed provides good cover for them and their eyes are often seen peeping above the cover!

Not all of our stripey friends are pretenders! No hoverfly here, just a real wasp. Wasps are predatory and are therefore more aggresive than bees. As long as you are careful, and do not wave your arms about (which gives them reason to attack), a wasps nest is not a bad thing! being predators, they eat a lot of bugs. For someone like me who refuses to kill without reason, letting nature keep the balance allows me to enjoy my bugs AND successfully grow stuff!

Most people cringe when they see crane flies. Like spindly spiders with wings, they are, like most bugs, frequently overlooked. However, try to see behind the creepy crawlie apsect and you will (maybe?) see a delicate elegance and like most bugs, surprising complexity. AND! like most bugs, they are completely harmless!

Another of my favourites is the 'Soldier' bug. So called by the way they sometimes sit upright on the tip of a branch looking like they are taking the watch! Often, you will also see other pairs of these bugs on the same bush busily mating! For this reason they are sometimes also known as 'Bonking' beetles (Honestly!).

Finally, some of you will have seen this picture on Facebook. Took some patience, a tripod, a clear night and some fiddling with contrast on the computer, but this is my best moon shot to date. Not bad for a £220 camera! When zoomed in, the detail is surprising. I hope to get a chance to get away from the lights of the town sometime to see what can be done on a really clear night with no light pollution!

So, nothing spectacular this time, but rest assured the camera is always busy and looking for that 'Wow' picture! As soon as (or 'IF') the sun puts in a  proper appearance, hopefuly some new subjects will appear and I can get the time to get back to the forest!

Please do leave comments - bye for now!