Always wash behind your ears & chin

[Geoff F]

As children, a great many years ago, we were always told 'Make sure you wash behind your ears and under your chin'. Well the same thing applies to insects! Head rotated by 90 degrees to reach those awkward spots.



My first Eristalis pertinax this year, so another hopeful sign of spring just around the corner.

A brief gap between the rain showers, so poor light meant an ISO of 800 and a dark subject beside an almost white leaf edge obviously needed an exposure compromise. Sigma 180 mm macro lens.

I did use flash on some photos but this one, which I thought was the most interesting, was with natural light.

Far from perfect, but that applies to most of my 'in the wild' macro images.

[carregwen]

That's pretty sharp Geoff, and nice colours too.

[ScoutR]

Eristalis pertinax: European Dronefly?, always learning here.
It looks like he missed a few spots behind his head, but he'll probably get to them. Love the translucent wings.

[rick55]

Wonderful shot, Geoff!

Is that a reflection of the photographer I see in the shiny surface between the thorax and abdomen? Or is this another case of seeing something not there?

Cheers,
Rick

[Geoff F]

There wasn't any sunshine to cause a reflection, Rick, and I was at an awkward angle anyway. It's just an odd spot on the scuttellum (correct name for that area) and appears on all the photos.

The common name Dronefly applies to several species in this family, Wendy. Eristalis tenax is identical except they have an all black hind leg. Abdomen colours are variable and can often show a lot of yellow, particularly later in the season. This one is a male but you can't tell from that angle.

[rick55]

There wasn't any sunshine to cause a reflection, Rick, and I was at an awkward angle anyway. It's just an odd spot on the scuttellum (correct name for that area) and appears on all the photos.

Very interesting, Geoff. I don't suppose you captured the fly, which is a missed opportunity: you could have told people it was a picture of Elvis, and charged for a look.

Cheers,
Rick