I have plenty of bees here in western France, perhaps not as many as there should be by natural law, but certainly enough to keep me entertained when there is nothing else flying. Bumble bees, honey bees, solitary bees of all sorts - they all visit.

The bad news is I shoot mainly with a S120, so it entails getting quite close to them. Occasionally I manage to find one that stays on the playing field long enough for me to get an achromat on the end of the lens. I also try and take slightly different photos of bees - filling a hard drive with bees perched on flowers does not ring my bell quite so much. Hope you find something interesting amongst this lot.

An early morning honeybee, deep in the Russian sage (S120 with Marumi 200 + Raynox 250 + Raynox 150)
36423519925_f8d55deae6_c.jpg


A Hairy Footed flower bee, Anthophora plumipes (S120)
34209724436_fea204e821_c.jpg


A tiny solitary Carpenter bee I rescued from drowning, Ceratina cyanea (ancient D60 + Marumi 200 + Raynox 150)
34623807541_31ed320639_c.jpg


An Anthophora pubescens, hard at work (S120)
34119811871_f4b3a3ee56_c.jpg


A Lasioglossum species, tiny but important pollinators no one ever notices (S120 + Marumi 200, + Raynox 250 + Raynox 150)
37189858560_44fa9cba3b_c.jpg
 
  • Love
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0
DrHook said:
Thanks again Click and MikeHit.

To dpc, whereabouts are you taking these pics? The one you question looks like a hoverfly, specifically a drone fly of some sort - perhaps an Eristalis species. Would this be a reasonable place to start looking for you?


Thanks for the info. You're right. I looked it up as best I could and conclude it's a hoverfly.
 
Upvote 0