Busy Bee's !

My girlfriend and her family keep bee's in order to generate their own honey. I didn't realise the amount of upkeep required if i'm honest, the hives are regularly being maintained. Yesterday i was invited to join them as they needed to find the queen before winter, sadly we didn't find her but it was a memorable experience and i was at least able to get an interesting photo :).

f/6.3

1/320

ISO-2500

300mm

Shield bug

The shield bug is something i don't know too much about, all i know is i see them around every now and again, they seem to be very strong for their size and their defensive  mechanism is to release a scent which can be a nightmare to get rid of. Although for some reason i have a soft spot for these odd little things so when my mum called me in to see what was crawling on her laptop the other day i had to take the chance to photograph it when releasing it :).

f/7.1

1/640

ISO - 500

214mm

Bee

I took this bee photograph yesterday in the garden after seeing the flower that was covered in them. Plus having injured my knee it meant i had enough time to sit there for long enough that i got a shot i was happy with in the end :).

f/7.1

1/400

ISO - 400

300mm

In the spotlight

I'm sure there are more interesting species to photograph but this hoverfly was definitely a fun species to photograph, and challenging. I had tried several times before but i guess practice makes perfect... although i'm sure i will be trying many more times before i get a "perfect" shot of one.

f/8

1/640

ISO - 1600

500mm

Bumble Bee

Back in June 2012 i was just getting used to my "new" camera. My grandad was also visiting from france and so we all went to a local gardens near Chichester in the south of England. It was only small but full of vibrant looking plants and consequently covered in bees of all variety's. I must have looked like a madman chasing bee's all over the gardens. But luckily my persistence paid off. I was very happy with my little bee photography. I would definitely recommend Denmans gardens (they also do lovely sandwiches). Hope you like the photo :).

I am not too good with my butterflies, but i am fairly certain this is a swallow tail. Feel free to correct me. I took this when out visiting family in spain. They are very lucky to live in a relatively remote area which is full of fascinating wildlife. Hopefully i will be out there again soon, photographing the various lizards and birds of prey that i rarely see more than a glimpse of :).

Butterfly on lavender

On a recent visit to my grandads house in France he was showing me the garden and we noticed the lavender was covered in Butterfly's. I couldn't pass on the opportunity to take a photo with such vibrant colours.