First hoverfly shot of the year

[squishy]

Just pleased that I'm seeing hoverflies again.






anyone else got a good hoverfly shot from this year to share?

[Geoff F]

That is a rather unusual colour scheme on the abdomen. Ideally, I would like to see more of the legs to check out the alternative forms of Helophilus; but it may well be just one of those early season variations.

Here in the 'deep south' early hoverflies have been around for the past month but this year's 'eye opener' was some Portevinia maculata males last week.

At the same time I did attempt to capture a fly and flower combination.



Not quite correct; the exposure was always going to be a bit of a compromise and the far petal needs a touch more sharpening.

[glsammy]

I've seen a few in our garden. Here's the ones I've got so far.

No idea on its id.


And this one:

[Geoff F]

At a guess, I would think the first specimen is Syrphus sp. and the second does look a bit like a rather pale faced Eristalis pertinax, but there are a couple of possible alternatives.

Unfortunately, those excellent really close shots have excluded the items which are required for an identification.

[brinny]

this was taken 22.03.10 hedgerow snatch by brinny

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Geoff F

At a guess, I would think the first specimen is Syrphus sp. and the second does look a bit like a rather pale faced Eristalis pertinax, but there are a couple of possible alternatives.

Unfortunately, those excellent really close shots have excluded the items which are required for an identification.

Thanks Geoff. One of the disadvantages of that lens is that unless your completely parallel with your subject a large portion is completely out of focus. That Hoverfly never played ball by showing me a better angle.
I did see enough of the other one to guess at the id.

[Geoff F]

As you say, with macro insects the depth of field is very shallow and you do need to get into a parallel position for maximum sharpness. Which is even more of a problem with long subjects like damsel and dragonflies.

With the rarer subjects (or at least new to me) I find the important thing is just to capture an identifiable specimen without scaring it away.

But I can be more relaxed with the 'everyday species' and have a bit of fun by attempting to include a suitable background. It doesn't matter if they won't 'play ball' with me; and I tend to find that if I am more relaxed my 'models' also relax.

Here is a Syrphus on wild garlic from early May



And a Melanstoma scalare; plus a free raindrop!