Tag: flowers

Insects and flowers

Tiny fly on Callistemon flower
Tiny fly on Callistemon flower

I was practising with my new macro lens on this bottlebrush or callistemon flower in the garden when a tiny fly decided to join the party. I often don’t notice the bugs until I start focusing on the flowers with my camera – perhaps I need to wear my glasses when I want to look specifically for small insects. I am impressed with the macro lens (Nikon 105mm), although I did get good results with the 60 mm (just need to be that bit closer).

Bee on red callistemon
Burchardia congest (milkmaid) with shiny insect
Native wisteria and bee
Bold Park dragonfly

With the bigger insects, like bees and dragonflies, I usually do see them unaided – of course, getting sharp shots is still a bit of a challenge. My real bugbear is butterflies – every time I try to focus they flit away – but I did manage one decent butterfly image this year. Sometimes I think I should stick to the big slow caterpillars!

Butterfly on melaleuca flower
Vine hawk moth caterpillar

Some of these images are in one of my Redbubble calendars for 2015.

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Spring in Dryandra

It is already starting to feel like spring in Perth – the days are warming up and flowers are appearing everywhere. As I haven’t had much chance to get out with the camera so far this year, I thought I’d travel back to spring in 2012 when we spent a few days at one of my favourite spots in Western Australia. Dryandra Woodland is a nature reserve in the middle of the Wheatbelt, protecting remnant patches of native vegetation. Spring is a great time to visit with many interesting species flowering.

This main image is a bug’s eye view of sundews or Drosera on a gravel path at Dryandra. Sundews are one of the largest groups of carnivorous plant; these particular ones are pretty small.

Field of sundew
Field of sundew

On the other end of the scale are these huge flowers of Eucalyptus macrocarpa or mottlecah. I’m not entirely sure if they are native to the specific area, as they were growing in an arboretum, but the species is endemic to the south-west of WA.

Macrocarpa flower
Bee on Eucalyptus macrocarpa

If you look carefully, you might spot the tiny orange spider on the white Pimelea flower below. I didn’t spot it until I got home and saw the image on the computer screen. The image on the right is Red Leschenaultia (Lechenaultia formosa) on one of the less-travelled roads in Dryandra; I love the way it just grows in the middle of the road. The other white flower is another tiny sundew or Drosera. Crawling around on the gravelly roadsides capturing these flowers was rather painful on the knees!

Pimela flower with tiny orange spider
White drosera flower
Leschenaultia formosa

Parts of the reserve are dominated by sheoaks – here pink paper flowers make a very attractive understorey:

Pink flower carpet
Pink flower carpet
© Jennie Stock – Nature in Focus, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any images or other material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.