me again

...a gorgeous sunny day here in Swanage, though the best of the sunshine was this morning while we were in a meeting. Nonetheless, after lunch, it was still perfect weather for being out walking so we stayed local and did one of our circulars from home that takes in some of the coast path, Anvil Point lighthouse and Durlston Country Park.

Most of the meadows have been cut for hay but there are still plenty of areas where scabious, wild carrot and various Asteraceae are abundant and attracting plenty of flying insects. I came home with a good assortment of hoverfly, bee, true fly, and butterfly images. I whittled these down to my three favourites and, as I could not decide, put it to a vote. This shot of the same hoverfly, Melanostoma mellinus, that I blipped two days ago was the winner. I captured images of a male and several females, choosing this female feeding on wild carrot - the eyes of the females don't meet in the middle so they have that lovely splash of blue frons. I love the little group of burgundy florets amongst the field of white.

Hoping the weather won't be as bad tomorrow as forecast...