Feeding in the Sunshine

I went out in the front garden to photograph a couple of self sown plants but ended up taking photos of insects instead.  First there was a lone Peacock butterfly finding plenty of nectar:










Plus lots of Bee Flies about with males occasionally landing on a flower to feed. Even when feeding they are still partly hovering as those spindly legs are not designed for holding on to petals:



 

Bombylius Major

Better known as the Bee Fly.

While clearing up in the garden, I spotted something land nearby. A quick look and I could see it was a Bee Fly:



I don't often see one resting. They are usually hovering in the Sunshine. What is nice is that they often return to the same space to hover which makes it easy to get a camera close to them though not necessarily easy to get one in focus. They have a habit of darting rapidly just a few inches. Fortunately they don't seem to mind being photographed. In fact sometimes I think they actually invite it as they often move closer to the camera:

 





As can be seen from the above one of the characteristics which makes them easy to identify, along with the habit of hovering, is the long proboscis sticking out in front.  I am quite pleased with these flight shots as it took over an hour and 20+ photos with an old Canon 350D fitted with a Sigma 28-80mm zoom macro lens set to manual focus. Why the 350D when I have better cameras? That combination is very light weight and the lens will focus down to about 3 inches though I never managed to get nearer than about 12 inches.

Occasionally the Bee Fly would land which made life a little easier:

 



I think there were several about in the front and back gardens. No doubt looking for somewhere the leave their eggs. The female flicks eggs near or into the nests of other insects or sometimes lays them on plants visited by the host insects.

That Fuzzy Fly

While cutting the grass this afternoon two Bee Flies hovered nearby so I grabbed the 350D and took a few photos, manual focus. This was the best of the bunch - much cropped:



Thanks again to Jan and Pete Smith for the identification.