best part of the day: the smallest thing you'll see today

30th April, 2nd May
A couple of days in the cemetery. I've put them together because similar things were going on; which is that the weather was not great, so I resorted to getting out some other bits and pieces to experiment with. Mostly the macro lens which I've had great fun poking into the faces of small flies and anything that will hold still long enough. There is a great deal of accepting many bugs will fly off just the nanosecond before you take the photo and quite a lot of bad language. The hit rate is considerably lower than with the telephoto lens which allows (insists) you to stand further back causing fewer animals to buzz off at the crucial moment. But the rewards are greater as it takes you further and more comprehensively into their world.

Dorothy and Colin

It was good to bump into Dorothy and Colin. I believe Colin is the treasurer for the East Scottish branch of Butterfly Conservation. It is a pity they got such poor weather for their visit to Warriston. There was probably not very much for them to photograph.

I resorted to trying out my Non Aerial Drone. Which is basically a camera on the end of a stick. It has proved interesting in some respects but I don't think it is a complete gamechanger. I have a few plans for it - like hanging it over the Crags or cycling with it at way-above-head-height along the esplanade at Silverknowes. But the pole (a 4'~12' telescopic window cleaning pole) is a consideration and it could easily ruin a nice day out.

test "flight"

So the first test is just a (ground based) flight near the War Memorial while Mary does her Spanish lesson in the background and we wait for the sun to come out. I had hoped the camera would be flexible enough to chase butterflies in flight but I suspect this is too much to hope for. However it does seem possible to go places a hand held camera cannot. Which is sort of the point. Whether it can film purple hairstreak 20 feet up trees remains to be seen but I have refined the process a little with the addition of a wifi transmitter to the camera, (another £60 thrown at this already dubious prospect) which sends the live feed to my mobile phone which I've attached (another £15) to near the handle where I can see the output as it happens and adjust the camera. This is more visible in the second video, which is a prospect that has long intrigued me. The windows in the crypts! They are maybe 12 foot off the ground and not readily accessible. I have wondered do they lead into the crypts and do overwintering butterflies and herald moths use them as a shelter. I have only ever seen a wren go into and exit from these windows and as the doorways are all bricked up there is no other access to explore. It is interesting to finally see into these portholes.

inside the crypts

The prospect of carrying a ladder into the cemetery was just too labour intensive but now the Non Aerial Drone gives at least a small peep in through the windows. (The camera can be 'centred' and also moved to aim the direction of view although not very easily. You can see the first approach is tweaked and then angled more suitably.) I could see no signs of moths or hibernating butterflies, however I did not bother with every window. I taped on a torch to light the dark interior.

What I could see was piles of stones and junk (a trolley and old bike wheel) which looked very like whoever had bricked it up just dumped a load of rubbish and fallen gravestones in there before closing it off. It occurs to me I could be the first person to see in there since it was sealed up. It did and didn't feel like Howard Carter looking into that other famous tomb in 1922. Work in progress. Probably best for seeing blockages in your roof gutters.

However I do enjoy the macro lens. So much so I am considering spending an arm and a leg, and then some, on the 90mm macro lens. Even though the 60mm is amazing. (120mm in real money as my camera is Micro Four Thirds and has a half sized sensor.)The 90mm would mean a greater distance allowed from the subject - some of the current pics were taken of subjects just a couple of centimetres from the lens glass. And not many butterflies enjoy that close an inspection, and will fly off unless you employ top ninja stealth moves of approaching glacier slow and slithering on the ground like a snake. I expect to be mistaken for a pensioner fall victim most times I do this. Which isn't a mile from the truth these days.

Helophilus pendulus

Being new to the fly world I can't tell you what species they are. However I have tried to find out by putting the images in Google Lens. This pulls up similar images and points you towards the species but is only as reliable as random stuff on the internet, and might throw up species from outside the UK that aren't as similar as the visual suggests. So take these species names with a pinch of salt more than well informed or correct identifications.

Calliphora (blow fly) (blue bottle)

tiny depth of field even at higher f numbers
Delia radicum?

Cheilosia pagana

Metellina

Delia radicum

I find these flies really compelling. It is hard to say exactly why. With a butterfly you are dealing with a flying painting. The flies only occasionally have attractive colours. It is more about their shapes. They have to be aerodynamic and so have a certain sports-car like appearance but they are also hairy and a bit troll like. And they have those fantastic compound eyes. It is the combination of several aspects that builds an enthralling visual and they live on a scale that my dim and fading eyes can't see. So when the macro lens reveals their secrets it is like a gift, a treasure. I understand that many people likely find them ugly and undesirable, and I am no fan of them in my home. But outdoors or in the photography studio they are great fun and quite a challenge to get close to. If you are ever bored in a cemetery try getting as close to a sunbathing fly as possible. Try even touching the stone they are on without them flying off. Then see if you can get your face to within inches. It is a great lesson in stoicism.

I love the way in the above video the fly stands on 3 legs to clean the other 3.

Syrphus (ribesii?)

honesty

Hydrophoria (linogrisea?)

white bluebells

Platycheirus albimanus
pale-footed hoverfly

Red Mason bee, Osmia bicornis

slowly unwinding fern fronds

nomad bee

These delightful charmers are Black Scavenger Flies (Sepsidae). They paraded around the forget-me-nots in tandem as if playing up for the camera. If you consider the flowers are about a fingernail across it lets you know what size these flies are. I should look them up in a large book of insects I bought recently. Just did. However it often just muddies the waters rather than sheds light. It says 6 genera / 29 species. How does that help? I'm going with Common Black Scavenger Sepsis cynipsea till anyone says different.

you can see the difficulty of focussing
at this scale from this video

2nd May

Another day of similar weather, perhaps a bit more sunny. However not that many butterflies and the macro lens came out again. I use it with a flash and diffuser. (Which looks like an old his-masters-voice gramaphone trumpet) (and can be seen in the crypts video above). In decent sunlight you don't need extra light however when you zoom right in to maximum close-up, extra lighting can be essential. I found I had to dim down the amount of flash for many shots, especially if I wanted to shoot with the aperture more open than f/7. I have put 3 pieces of A4 printer paper between the flash and the plastic diffuser (which came with the flash), then the softbox over that, to suppress the amount of light required as it overexposes the shot otherwise - even at the shortest burst (1/128). I have never required more than 1/8 in any conditions - it does seem to be a matter of keeping the flash to a minimum.

large and little

large white in the nettles

speckled wood

peacock enjoying the warmth of a gravestone

Delia radicum

The sun warms the stones and the flies enjoy the warmer surface. I would try to sneak up on them without chasing them off. It is not easy and often involves me crouching or sitting down just as the subject flies off. You just get into a comfortable position and ping, it's gone. I haven't yet remained sitting in situ to wait for the next one to land, but it will happen.

Anthomyia

Anthocoris

a bumble bear

They are huge compared to many of the smaller more nimble flies. This one was struggling drunkenly in the long grasses. I helped it up on my hand and after an initial fight (waving an arm at me) it gave in and quite enjoyed the view. I laid it on a leaf to recover after taking a couple of shots.

Epistrophe eligans

Hydrotaea (diabolus?)

as above

Epistrophe

Helina (evecta?)

The yellow backdrop of these petals
makes a great stage to display this supermodel

speckled wood

peacock up near the crypts

the trouble with changing duvet covers
Bombus lapidarius, Red-tailed bumblebee

Parasyrphus

does a butterfly even have a concept of stone flowers
carved to immitate the thing it usually lands on?

nomad bee

stig of the dump

common wasp, Vespula vulgaris

hawthorn shieldbug

I think I was in danger of losing track of this shiedbug so let it wander onto my hand. I took quite a few photos and then put it up to a leaf. It refused to leave. Defo preferred the warmth of a hand. Okay we'll do some more photos. It did a couple of laps by the time I eventually persuaded it to hop off into the greenery. They have wings and can fly off if unhappy but this one just wandered about. It was only when I got the photos up on the monitor I realised you can see the reflection of the diffused flash in the compound eyes, if that's what they are. This is another fingernail sized specimen and it is nearly impossible for me to see those eyes without reading glasses. They are pretty much indistinguishable from the rest of the head. In previous photos I had never noticed the delineation around the cells of the eyes. In the second last photo the eyes look like disco balls. I was totally wowed by this. And if anyone asks you what the smallest thing you'll see today is, it's a fair bet the individual cells of a shieldbug's eyes is a likely candidate. (This does not included Kevin M who works with a scanning electron microscope.)(Why couldn't I get a job like that?)