Steamy

After finding my first Large Red Damselfly of the season in the garden yesterday, I thought it was worth making another search of local Odonata sites this morning - but once again I drew a blank. The likeliest of the places I tried was the Old Mill site down by the Avon in Cleeve Prior, where it was warm and steamy, the nettle beds were lush, and there was so much other insect activity going on that I could hardly believe there were still no damselflies to be found. After forty minutes of diligent searching around all the fishing pegs and bankside vegetation I admitted defeat, but everything I know about Odonata is telling me there's about to be a mass emergence of damsels and demoiselles, so I'll be heading back down the cliff road very soon.

Best of the rest were these copulating Tiger Hoverflies (Helophilus pendulus) on one of the nettle beds. Most hoverflies are rather shy and retiring while in cop, but these guys are positively exhibitionist, and I've taken similar photos many times before. But I don't think you should ever pass up the opportunity to photograph bug porn, and even though it's a common scene there's still some challenge to capturing it well, with both parties sharp from stem to stern, and the background well-diffused. This came close to being an extremely good version of the shot, but the need to stay parallel to the protagonists limited my range of movement, so I couldn't exclude those annoying bramble stems from the bokeh. If I ever achieve the perfect Helophilus pendulus copulation image I'll be able to give up on this project, and leave future Tigers to get on with their loving in peace. Maybe.