Picture of the Week: 15th June 2018

Next week it’s midsummer in the Northern Hemisphere and to prove it, here’s a picture of a bee happily collecting pollen from the flowers in our garden. I love photographing insects close up. What often looks like an inconspicuous blob from a distance, often takes on fascinating new colours and textures when you get up close. Bees are good photo models too! Wasps tend to move quickly from flower to flower, but bees take more time over their pollen collecting and will happily sit still for a few seconds while you take your picture. 

Although I’m sure this is a bumblebee, I’m not sure what species it is. According to the Friends of the Earth website, 270 species of bees have been recorded in the UK. The key to identifying many of them is their tail colour: sadly that’s the only part I didn’t get a picture of, so I’ll probably never know. It was a beautiful creature though and it made me smile.