u/Bug_Photographer

I made a little discovery while out in front of the neighbour's house when I was out with the camera. A female hairy sand wasp (Podalonia hirsuta) which was buzzing around a paralysed caterpillar of some sort of moth in the Agrotis genus.

Since I had the MP-E65mm on the camera. I carefully backed off and then did my best Usain Bolt impression back to my house to switch to the Canon 100mm L before returning.

It paid off and I followed her as she located the caterpillar and rotated and adjusted it a bit before she was ready to go on the move with it in a firm grip with those rather large mandibles. They don't fly with this large a load, but instead run with it at a very smooth pace.

This species specialises in Agrotis caterpillars and after paralysing them, they move them to a already dug burrow where they bury it together with an egg and when that hatches, the larvae will feed on the caterpillar before pupating and emerging the next year.

For a link to a video of another P. hirsuta digging her burrow and details on what camera/lens/settings were used for this shot, please have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/55257248830/

This soft-looking little fellow on the grape hyacinths (Muscari sp.) in front of my house (on the south side of Stockholm, Sweden) is a male red mason bee (Osmia bicornis). The guys are a bit more orange than the girls plus they have that tuft of blond hair on their face.

For details on camera/lens/settings, please have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/55254807106/

I am unable to figure out the exact species of this butterfly. I get as far as it being a tigerwing (Melinaea sp.), but the patterns on the many different species in this genus seem to overlap so we will have to settle for it being some sort of tigerwing.

In this shot both the antennae and the proboscis were moving so they look a bit blurry, but the rest of the butterfly sat still so I think the shot still works.

For more details on camera/lens/settings used for the shot, exact location where it was taken and a link to a second shot of it, please have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/55254958818/

I passed this couple while walking along the road next to the Nedre dammen pond at Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park, just south of Stockholm, Sweden, on my first visit for the 2026 season.

The happy pair are a couple of common toads (Bufo bufo) on their way to a better place to get things going and lay their eggs.

For details on camera/lens/settings used plus exact location, please have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/55236376299/

The pellucid fly (Volucella pellucens) is named such because of the large white part of the abdomen. Pellucid means "translucently clear" and this references the white "window" into the fly. In Sweden, this is a "fönsterblomfluga", meaning window hoverfly and I believe most people think this has something to do with it being found inside windows, but it is the same reason as in English.

This particular specimen is a female and she had parked on the white-painted railing on my mother-in-law's front porch which made for a very isolated look.

She stayed so still that I was able to take seven shots of her and then focus stack them using Zerene Stacker into this shot with more depth of field.

For details on what camera/lens/settings were used for the shot plus a link to a second (non-stacked) shot, please have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/55232841942/

Like many horse-flies, this female notch-horned cleg (Haematopota pluvialis) truly have a set of extraordinary compound eyes. And the reason I managed to get so close to here was that she had managed to get one of her feet stuck in the shade cloth inside my mother-in-law's greenhouse.

After getting some close photos of her, I actually managed to untangle the leg and get her out of there.

I've got no idea why they have these patterns on their eyes, but it sure makes for a nicer subject than if they had been plain so I'm not complaining.

For details on camera/lens/settings used for this shot, please have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/55233995049/

As I was crawling through the undergrowth near the Nedre Dammen pond in Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park, Sweden, I noticed something very small - and very yellow! To my delight I realized it was a female 22-spot ladybird (Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata).

These are only around 4 mm /.16" in length so I was fortunate I hade the Canon MP-E65mm on my camera and got this shot (and a couple more) at rather high magnification. This one is a three-exposure focus stack at 3.9:1 mag.

The way you can tell which sex it is, is quite easy The males have a white pronotum (the "middle part of the carapace") while females like this one are all yellow.

Unlike most other ladybirds who are predators and like to feed on aphids, these guys (and girls) are actually vegetarian and eat milldew.

For links to a couple of more shots of this one plus details on camera/lens/settings used for the shot, please have a look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/55233753606/