It is often surprising how much stick these big raptors will put up with. I've never yet seen one retaliate. Well captured.

I am indeed fortunate to have such bounty 'on my doorstep' and even more pleased that I can give pleasure by sharing it.
Thank you for your kind comments and encouragement.

I have to agree with David too. These were taken quite normally, without flash. Observe the bees' habits, how do they approach or leave the flower? Most will be right handed, for example, making for the next one on the right. High speed honey bees really slow down and almost hover when confronted with compound flowers, such as hyacinth or crocosmia (montbretia, that was). They have little choice but to drop out of fuschias. .... etc.
And finally, expect a keeper ratio of less than 1:100 to begin with. It improves with time.

I find it amazing how much there is to look at and photograph when I am out walking. It is just a matter of where you choose to focus as you go along -
the trees and the cows or the plant stems you walk past !

The spring brood of butterflies has now matured. These will not survive the autumn but their progeny will hibernate and mate next spring.

Meadow browns



Large white



These have stripped their ragwort foodplants bare. It is the caterpillar of the day-flying Cinnabar Moth



This ladybird has discovered a bonanza of aphids to eat.



While this one is playing hide and seek with a soldier beetle



Soldier beetles are everywhere, flitting from thistle flower to thistle flower in search of mates



They are not the most elegant of flyers



A pollen beetle looks up, wondering what all the fuss is about.



This wasp is, of course, an excellent flyer. The aim was to capture it hunting on the thistles but it flew off as I pressed the shutter.
The result is a very scarce (almost in focus) image of a wasp in flight.



How to capture a soldier beetle.
Because they can't fly well they need to climb to the top of things to take off. If they try anything anywhere else
(e.g. the plant stem or leaves) they fall off. Therefore, you find one on the way up, prefocus on the summit and wait for it to appear - click!



These were taken over a couple of days with a K5, Pentax-M f4 100mm macro, PLM 55-300mm and an F series 100mm macro.

A couple more from a day or so afterwards.

The females seem to appear out of nowhere and deliberately fly past a roost of 6 or 7 males which promptly erupts to chase her. She leads them a merry chase until one manages to catch her - presumably the best and strongest flyer of the group, which is what she wants.

It is almost impossible to capture the chase



This female Banded Demoiselle wasn't expecting what she got, however. The male dived vertically, grabbed her and shoved her head under the water!



He had to subdue her long enough to get his tail pincer onto the back of her neck



He then flew her off too quickly to capture, watched by a nearby Beautiful who wasn't interested in their chase



Those who have read Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider" books will recognize this story as it is probably where she obtained her inspiration?

Super bees - especially the purple Goth one

It's just a collection of 'stuff. Like heck it is - it's pure genius at work!
Thinking of it is hard enough, then you have to figure out how to make an image of this quality. Top hole!

Lovely result, however much you played around with it.

You didn't mention how tiny they are. The clarity of these is marvellous.

This summer has been very kind to damselflies in general and, in my area, demoiselles. There are only two kinds in the UK - the Banded Demoiselle and the Beautiful Demoiselle, both of which were out in abundance.

The first two are (male) banded demoiselles






and a female laying her eggs in weeds at the river's edge



And here is how she got into that state (!) These two are a pair of Beautiful Demoiselles. The male grabs the female by the scruff of her neck - he has a three pronged pincer and she has a triple purchase point for the purpose. She then arches her tail beneath the male's thorax to couple their reproductive parts.
(I love the look on her face!).






A male Beautiful Demoiselle is just that



and the female isn't far behind



I hope you enjoyed them. All taken with a K3ii and a 55 - 300 PLM.



The baby trout, on the other hand, couldn't care less!