June 16, 2005

Don't Bug Me


This hoverfly (left) seemed to take a particular delight in 'buzzing' the Common Blue butterfly, and kept swooping over it for several minutes despite the butterfly's efforts to shoo it away by flapping its wings.


I must confess that I've never really noticed this type of butterfly before. They are really beautiful - satin blue on the upper wings, and delicate gem-like designs on the lower wings. The larvae of this butterfly feed on trefoil - another bright sign of summer. I've posted a few more pictures below...


You can see the delicate detail of the lower wing



Details of the upper wing - only the male butterfly has this brilliant colour - the female is brown.


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Posted by Monasette at June 16, 2005 11:33 PM
Comments

Beautiful Butterfly !!

Posted by: Paula at June 18, 2005 03:54 AM

some truely beautiful pictures this week John. especially like the 'Don't bug me' one.

Posted by: michelle at June 18, 2005 09:38 PM

Now that I have the new lens, there's no stopping me...

Posted by: john at June 20, 2005 07:38 PM

Great photo's. Given how difficuly catching a moving object using a macro lens or setting - how did you catch this? Was it hand held ?

Posted by: John Mc at June 21, 2005 06:43 PM

It's not really a macro lens. I recently bought a Canon 70-300 zoom which has an Image Stabilizing facility. Because I use a digital SLR, the lens focal length is multiplied by 1.6, so that the effective zoom around 100-480. I was a couple of metres away (the minimum focusing distance) and in reality, the fly was practically on top of the butterfly. The Image Stabilizer allows you to shoot around 3 stops 'slower' than normal (I don't really know how it works) which helps make the picture even sharper. This photo was shot at 1/800 at F9.0 at ISO400 (but the effective speed was 1/1600). The only problem is that the depth of field is very shallow but we can't have everything. Oh, and it helps that the insects perform obediently in front of the camera - luck is always the most important fact!!

Posted by: John at June 21, 2005 10:22 PM