{"id":3073,"date":"2013-08-25T23:46:15","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T22:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2013-08-25T23:46:15","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T22:46:15","slug":"greedy-bee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/greedy-bee\/","title":{"rendered":"A Greedy Bee and Some Frisky Butterflies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lovely sunny afternoon emerged after a dull start to the day. Ideal for spending some time in the garden; and evidently ideal for the host of insects that came out to enjoy some time in the sun.<\/p>\n

We’re fortunate to have plenty of bees in the garden. They have a particular taste for the hibiscus bush, so much so that it is a small wonder they can even fly.<\/p>\n

\"Bee<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"Bee<\/a><\/p>\n

Not all of them are quite so greedy. This bee was enjoying a taste of wild marjoram.<\/p>\n

\"Bee<\/a><\/p>\n

All the time the gentle buzz of bees was punctuated by the percussive chatter of grasshoppers. <\/p>\n

\"Common<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the butterflies, I saw painted ladies, small whites, a couple of red admirals, several blues (different species), a speckled wood and numerous amorous large whites. <\/p>\n

\"Speckled<\/a>
Speckled Wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These are the large whites. They were darting all over the garden whilst engaging in a courtship ritual where the female rests and the male dances around her. The female’s raised abdomen is actually a ‘rejection’ posture as it makes mating impossible. This is a common feature in butterfly behaviour, and she may well have already mated.<\/p>\n

\"Pair<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Pair<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Pair<\/a>
\n
\nCamera note: greedy bee taken with the Canon 7D and EF 200mm f\/2.8L II USM; marjoram bee, grasshopper and speckled wood taken with the EF 100mm f\/2.8L macro IS USM lens; and the mating large white butterflies with the EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lovely sunny afternoon emerged after a dull start to the day. Ideal for spending some time in the garden; and evidently ideal for the host of insects that came out to enjoy some time in the sun. We’re fortunate to have plenty of bees in the garden. They have a particular taste for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[993,15,992,991],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bee-insects-2","category-behaviour","category-butterfly-insects-2","category-insects-2","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t