beau tanics

 

05-09-26 A bit of sunshine instigated a wee wander to the Botanics. Mary and I set off about 1.30pm. We quickly came across a painted lady on some buddleia we'd rarely bothered with, just after the crossing at Pilrig St. It was very much the flavour of the day with several butterfly bushes living up to their name, sporting painted ladies and red admirals, (but sadly little else of interest). It seems to be a poor year for commas and maybe slightly fewer peacocks about too. Small tortoiseshells remain on the elusive list, with an occasional specimen showing they are not quite extinct just yet.

Nothing at the rock garden (again) and we scurried (tittering) past a wedding party under the big trees which included someone playing a harp. Wouldn't fancy carting that about to venues. I wondered if we could brazenly gatecrash the party for a glass of fizz as everyone looked too refined to question unknown guests with cameras.

more buddleia business at the cafe

RA and PL on buddleias
soundtrack: There for Me, (PIANIKA Remix,)
by Klaverson, PIANIKA

The above video features a final red admiral trying to remove some plant glue from the end of its proboscis with its legs - we've all been there!

taken at 14.43 so maybe 22mins adrift

always a few speckleds about

Around here I swapped from the zoom lens to the macro. Mary was beginning to tire. Stop-start walks are harder on her legs (and patience) than keeping going steadily, and I think she knew I was about to have a macro session. She headed home while I looked about for things to photograph, mainly hoverflies and bugs as there was little in the way of lepidoptera.

It is bad enough kneeling and lying on the ground pointing the camera at unspectacular insects and holding your breath for the few seconds you film them. Watching someone else do this would be well beyond the call of duty. Happily Mary is an independent spirit and enjoys a solo walk as much as in my company, so we parted ways cheerily and did our own things.

Eristalis pertinax - Tapered drone fly

frog in the demonstration garden mini-pond

Syrphus ribesii

results from changing aperture - this shot at f/7.1

opening the aperture to f/3.5 blurs the background more
while shortening the depth of field (stuff in focus)

Syrphus ribesii - f/10
small things benefit a smaller aperture and larger depth of field

Lucilia spec.

Eristalis pertinax

Eristalis tenax

various flies on flowers

soundtrack: fractals by cloud cover

as above

PL on rudbeckia

painted lady on rudbeckia
soundtrack: There for Me, PIANIKA remix by Klaverson, PIANIKA

I noticed this painted lady land on the rudbeckias in the herbaceous border. It made a pretty picture so I tried to slowly move towards it without chasing it off. It flew from flowerhead to flowerhead as I video-ed it. The flowers make a very dynamic backdrop for the butterfly and this is probably the best footage I shot today. In slo-mo of course. Anything shot normal realtime speed these days seems like the insects are rushing about like the Keystone Cops.

more B-on-B action
possibly on my way past the cafe heading home

A last call in past the Rock Garden but again, not much happening there.

Lucilia spec.

speckled wood

the buddleia beside the WoL in St Mark's park

red admiral

three red admirals, one painted lady

under 6miles in over 3hrs