Bees mating

Yesterday was the last of the tripod shots onto the rubble / compost heap in the grove, as I have all the standard visitors to the blooms blipped. Next is going to be wandering around the grove, camera in hand and try to figure out how to get close to the resident butterfly population. There are at least a dozen regulars, plus a few very impressive visitors, which are going to be very difficult to blip, as they don't hang around.

A few of the butterflies are feeding on flowers, so a little tripod work on selected blooms should take care of those, but the rest are going to be chase and hope, unless you have any suggestions.

This morning I did find a new dragon, sunning itself. I only got the one shot, but it was not close enough and the focus was a bit off for a blip. I am running out of dragons too, but I have seen a few species that I have not covered yet. I think I will have to find a way down the bank to the stream to continue the dragon hunt, this may also reveal some fresh insect life.

I feel that there is at least another month of insect blips to be collected, but as the days pass and my collection grows, there are bound to be blank days, when I have to break the series and go with a backup. Hope this doesn't spoil it for you as much as it will spoil it for me.

I did make a timid attempt at the bank to see what the problems were going to be on future excursions. The soil was very loose and footing very unsteady. This afternoons job is to repair the rip in my shorts that gave way under the strain of my ample ass when I slipped, also another repair to my sandal is now required.

While I was half way down the bank, a young chap walked past, along the bed of the almost dry stream, carrying a sack, so obviously collecting something. However, the stream bed was totally out of reach, being a 20 foot shear drop. I will have to find another route to the bed. While he ambled past, he disturbed some glorious butterflies into flight, one in particular, a huge purple and black caught my eye.

It is good to see so many exotic specimens surviving, as they are prone to be collected for the tourist industry and sold illegally to overseas collectors. The legalities of collecting endangered species don't seem to be an issue here, judging by the caged animals and birds that I have often seen being sold out side the shopping malls.

On my ascent of the slippery slope I spotted these two love birds getting it on. They had tried to conceal themselves under a few leaves, but my brain is programmed for spotting yellow and black stripes. I was able to take all the shots that I wanted, as no way were they going to move. I took a few flash shots, as the heavy undergrowth and overhead trees made the lighting conditions difficult. The resulting blip choice was a flash shot, the non-flash shots requiring too much PS work and losing the natural look.

I was happy to throw away the inferior dragon shot, as this was a far superior choice. I have no idea what this insect is, even in fact, if it is a bee at all. The wing patterns should help identification, but what do I search for is the big question.

Update - Wasp moth - ORDER: Lepidoptera, FAMILY: Sesiidae, GENUS: Melittia, SPECIES: sp.

Dave