Gold, green and shiny, this was too beautiful to ignore. Not sure what it is, but it was hanging out with (and being ignored by) red soldier beetles. And its colours remind me of a tie I acquired in the '70s...

Comments (and identity of beetle) welcome.
















Steve

Thanks for your interest and comment, folks. The mystery flower isn't a chive, it isn't clover, it's not quite a thistle - it is a knapweed (not sure what variety).

The bee orchid looks a lot better at full res. There's a lot of detail in the flower, which makes it stand out nicely from the OOF background.

Wild carrot is fairly common round here, it likes dry, chalk soils. According to the wild flower book, all umbellifers (including cow parsley and hogweed) are members of the carrot family. The wild carrot flower head is one of the more interesting. When it sets seed, the whole head curls up into a ball. Fascinating and photogenic. Here's a seed head from last year.




Steve

Wikipedia says the diameter of a pollen grain is between 0.006mm and 0.1mm, depending on species. So your estimate looks pretty good to me. And you've got detail on those grains that could well be 1/10 of 0.05mm = 0.005mm.

Have you ever thought about getting a scanning electron microscope? No need for focus stacking, think of the time you'll save!!

Steve

Thanks for the kind words.

No, no, no, absolutely not - life's too short and the list of jobs to be done is too long!!!

In case you're wondering, I noticed that a beetle standing at the edge of a leaf and waving its antennae was likely to take off soon. Presumably it's a male trying to pick up pheromones from a female. Once it lands, it runs around like crazy until it finds what it's looking for or stands still and waves its antennae again.

Come to think of it, if they always take off in the direction they are pointing when standing still, a head-on shot might be possible... Aaaagh!!!!

Steve

The rose is a weed, spread from next door and took up residence in an almost inaccessible spot at the back of a flower bed. It has ferociously prickly stems. The flowers are the only good thing about it!

Steve

Couldn't get sharper than that, there was slight movement of the plant due to light breeze (not much, but more than enough for this minute flower). Might be a candidate for flash, but that changes the challenge!

Interesting that you prefer just the single flower. I rather liked having both flower and seed heads in the same picture. Having seen the single flower, though, there's definitely something going for it. Just need to find another flower on a day with good light and perfectly still air so a tripod can be used....

Steve

Phenomenal!

Have you any idea what the diameter of one of those pollen grains is?

Steve

You mean like this?




Steve

Until today, I thought that birds in flight was difficult...

Lots of soldier beetles in the garden today. Spent a while trying to spot when they were about to take off. Then spent another while trying to press the shutter button quick enough for the beetle to still be in the frame. As for focus ... all luck rather than judgement. But got lucky once.

And here it is.




Steve

Good set.

Marbled white - yes, you left the best to last. And a fine shot it is, too.

Fungus - It looks like shaggy ink cap, but might be wrong. I like it as it is. The gradation from bright white at top of cap to dull white at bottom is good and might get lost if you adjust the white to make it pop (don't like that word, puffballs pop but this one won't).

Ladybird - Definitely prefer the natural light version. The ladybird is in shade, but that's the way it should be when it's underneath a flower. The flash version flattens everything and the light just doesn't look right for an upward-looking view.

Steve