Last summer, I noticed an insect bringing a bit of leaf to plug the hole in a bit of bamboo that is part of one of those folding director’s chairs. Huh? A leafcutter bee, how interesting, and thought no more about it. I particularly failed to notice when, or indeed whether, any adults emerged earlier this year. They must have done; I think that’s some debris just visible in the hole on the left.
Then, a few months ago, I noticed that almost all of the much smaller holes in the uprights of the Ikea Ivar shelves outside had been blocked up in similar fashion. I did not see it happening, and it seems that the plug is not a leaf but might be mud. Huh? Mason bees?
That led me to think about deliberately building a bee hotel, and I went so far as to buy some bamboo specifically, but one thing after another got in the way and now I am very glad I didn’t, because I would have made an absolutely lousy bee hotel developer.
This dawned on me as I explored the website of a new cyber-chum. Colin Purrington posts really interesting stuff on Mastodon, mostly about insects. I first noticed lots of great macro photos, and then more in-depth content, and then took a look at the website, only to discover a series of posts about insect hotels that brought me up short.
If I had done what I originally intended, I could have been building a slum tenement occupied by ruthless assassins waiting only for their next victim.
Micro-wildlife
All this interest reflects a definite increase in the amount of micro-wildlife on our terrace, five stories up on a hill in Rome. I have roughly identified hoverflies, solitary bees and honeybees, wasps, and moths and butterflies. Others are too small to be sure, and they all move far too quickly and unpredictably for me to get a good look. I haven’t really studied insects for about 55 years, and it would be good to at least know what I’m looking at.
The doomed bee hotel would have been a first step. I have also been looking at hoverfly lagoons as another way to give things a bit of a boost. I think I could hide a stinky swamp somewhere behind all the plants.
I now have the rest of the summer and all of the winter to read up and learn and build a better bee hotel. I’m also going to try and improve my macro-photography which at the moment is acceptable only for things that don’t move much. The bee hotel might help with that.
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As my interest in the micro-wildlife on our terrace has grown I have found myself wanting to know more exactly what I am looking at. I don’t have any way to catch things, but I do have a macro lens on my camera. Problem is, the focal length is quite short, which means that in macro mode the subject can be about 1cm from the front of the lens. In addition to sometimes blocking the light, it alarms most insects. It’s fine for things that aren’t moving, and though the auto-focus is reasonably quick, even a gently waving flower can defeat it. So, yes, I have taken some good close-ups with it, but that’s often more a matter of luck than judgement. It lives on my camera because quite apart from the macro capabilities, it is a great lens for out and about photography.
As I was reading around and contemplating a new, longer macro lens, I came across an article that made me realise that my zoom lens has a much shorter close focus, something I had never really paid attention to. For some reason, I’ve always tended to use it from about 3 metres on out, but it can actually focus one metre away.
Most of the insects I watch don’t actually seem to land very often, and although I have managed to catch bumblebees in flight, I wouldn’t dream of forcing those images on you. If something settles, however, the camera is quick enough and the lens sharp enough to get something useful.
Pretty sure this is a German yellowjacket, Vespula germanica.The image is a 1200 pixel crop from the full frame, and I reckon it is decent enough.
I’m still tempted by “proper” macro-photography, although I am wary that to do it well will need a bunch more equipment than just another lens. I’m also in awe of some of the images I see online. For now, then, I will continue to try my improper macro-photography and hope to snap something more interesting than a far-too-common wasp.
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