Insects & Spiders

Wasp drinking

by David Clarke | Aug 27, 2020 | Insects & Spiders, Italy

Paper wasp (Polistes dominula) floating on the garden pond while drinking. Its legs push down on the water surface enough to form a depression but the surface isn’t broken. The result is six large buoyancy paddles that support the wasp that you can see as shadows on the bottom of the pond a few inches below. While I had seen these industrious little guys many times taking a drink, this was the first time I’d seen the ‘paddle effect’ on the water.

Canon 90D with CAnon EF-S 55-250mm lens at 250. ISO 2000 1/4000 at f7.1

Wall brown

by David Clarke | Aug 25, 2020 | All, Flowers, Insects & Spiders, Italy, Places, Wildlife

Lasiommata megera, aka Wall or Wall brown, a beautiful addition to our lavender

Canon 90D with Sigma 150-600 mm C at 562mm ISO 2500 1/800 at f8

Bee a la Mode

by David Clarke | Aug 23, 2020 | All, Flowers, Insects & Spiders, Italy, Wildlife

Bee trying on a duranta flower for size after discovering they are the latest fashion item in the apian world.

Canon 90D with Sigma 10-600mm C at 600mm. ISO1600 1/1000 at f8

Cabbage White

by David Clarke | Aug 22, 2020 | All, Flowers, Insects & Spiders, Italy

Cabbage white butterfly – probably Pieris rapae but might be P. Brassicae – loving the lavender

Canon 90D with Sigma 150-600mm lens at 562mm ISO2500 1/800 at f8

Sleepy Bee

by David Clarke | Aug 14, 2020 | All, Flowers, Insects & Spiders, Places, Wildlife

Roosting bee. At the end of a hectic day buzzing around the lavender, guys like this one like nothing better than hunkering down for the night on beds of lavender blossoms. In the morning, they wake with the sun, and are on site for another day’s work.

Canon 90D with Canon EF-S 60mm macro. ISO6400 1/500 at f8. Cropped in LR.

Busy bee!

by David Clarke | Apr 22, 2020 | Insects & Spiders, Phuket, Southeast Asia

This carpenter bee spent several hours buzzing around the stand of bamboo outside our front door returning many times to improve on a neat hole he was making in a main stem. These bees are totally harmless but get bad press as a result of the damage they do to wood.

We get many in the garden in Italy as well where they are great if clumsy pollinators — their navigation system doesn’t seem to be the best in that they often fly straight into things, like people. I’ll put a set of these shots in the gallery.

Canon 90D with Canon 55-250 f4-5.6 IS STM lens at 250mm ISO640 1/250 at f8. Cropped and polished in LR.