Huddle

Suddenly realising that it was 2.30 in the afternoon and the light was already fading fast, I grabbed the small camera, with macro and flash attached, and rushed off into the garden. No time for extensive searching: I just needed to go to the likeliest places, and hope to hit lucky.

Next problem: I'd forgotten to recharge my flash heads, which had discharged faster than usual due to it having been so dark recently that I'd needed to work with the modelling lights on. Oh. OK. No possibility of charging them now. So. Find an invert, line it up, then turn on the flash heads and shoot quickly, before they fade out again. In the event I managed sixteen photos before the flash heads refused to turn on at all, and after processing I kept just four of them. 

If you've been following my wanderings for any length of time you'll immediately recognise these as a pair of seed weevils, Oxystoma pomonae - not bonking this time, but huddling. The garden is currently busy with these 3mm weevils, sitting in pairs on twigs and the underside of leaves, preparing to wait out the cold weather.

The chiaroscuro here is a function of the expiring flash, rather than being an artistic choice, but it seems somehow appropriate to the season, and I quite like it.