As I write this I am reminded of my father who as a member of the Royal Auxillary Air Force just prior to the Second World War was a ‘Weekend Pilot’. He was with 603 University of Edinburgh Squadron, and it was from this squadron that a pilot shot the first German aircraft over the North Sea.
I never cease to be amazed by the incredible control exercised by hoverflies in gusty wind; they manage to hold their own despite the violence of the gusts, and once I begun taking photos of them, I found their structure incredible for such a small insect. When viewed at a distance they seem to possess no colour but when up close the yellow and black pattern of their bodies is striking, as are the enormous reddy brown multiple lens eyes. Beneath their wings lies the secret of their flight success, miniature mass dampers in pale yellow, and at the wing roots, the body is very reminiscent of a helicopter. The more I try to capture them in flight, the more I realise that there are different species.
Through my reading I have learnt that when the eyes are clearly separate in the middle, I am looking at a female, and from colleagues I have learnt that they will happily land on an outstretched hand.
Over this weekend with little sun, they have been less in evidence, but every so often the sun did come out, so I took my chances and used the Canon EOS 7D with a Sigma 1.4 Converter and the 550 EX Speedlite to capture the shots shown in the gallery.
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