Tea For Two

Today I'm working on my thermal imaging poster for next weekend's Overton Sheep Fair. I was in the kitchen when I saw a Red Kite circling above so I dashed up stairs to get my SLR and long lens. When I came down it had flown off. Instead I swapped out the long lens for a macro and went to snap my California Poppies that have started to flower. They are very jolly but are probably wondering where the California sun has gone because it feels a lot more like an English winter here than a Californian summer at the moment...

After a few shots I spotted this hover fly (Syrphus vitripennis) frantically feeding on this flower. So I took a few pictures, some with high-speed flash to make up for the lack of light and some without. It was feeding s0 frantically I didn't think I'd have enough light to freeze it and still have any depth of field left. In the end the results were mostly a blur or no usable depth of field. This is one of a pair that were just about acceptable - so I've cropped them down and balanced the colours up. As is usual I din't even see the second insect until I'd got the picture up on the big screen.

Anyhow, no time to waste, there's another stage of Le Tour on TV today, jam to make (I prepared it yesterday) and the rest of my poster to make. It sounds like I'm busy, but if truth be told my better half does most of the work I just follow along making a mess - but isn't that what blokes are for?