Yellow Peril

The plant which caught me eye today is a showy hellebore. Although it looks so pretty it's poisonous. Extracts from its thick roots are used in insecticides but its nectar is obviously not harmful as it attracts lots of wasps in my garden. It's a member of the buttercup family and can spread everywhere if left to its own devices. Its five "petals" are actually sepals - surrounding a ring of small, cup-like petals holding nectar. The sepals can remain on the plant for months.

I've blipped quite a number of bees and wasps on flowers this summer and have not used any special macro lens, but the wide angle setting on my compact Sony Cybershot. I set around 800 ISO to allow a high shutter speed to freeze movement and give overall sharpness.