Macro photo's in the garden and a first time visitor spotted

Macro photo’s in the garden and a first time visitor spotted

With just the hint of summer on the way, I spent some time in the garden yesterday. After a tidy up I grabbed a camera and took a few insect macro photographs. There are also a few pictures of birds that were seen in the garden yesterday and that are included in the picture set.

The last set of close up macro pictures that I took were posted on this blog a couple of weeks ago. As with those pictures i used my Canon EOS 90D and Sigma 105mm f2.8 lens.

A new visitor

It seems to me we are seeing less insects in the garden this year. I can’t say I know why that is, perhaps the odd and unsettled weather so far this year is having an impact on the number of insects we are seeing (or rather not seeing in the garden).

But despite the relative scarcity of flying insects yesterday brought sight of an insect that I don’t recall seeing before.

This new visitor is a Rosemary Beetle, a beetle that apparently is quite widespread across England. If you want to know more about there is plenty to read online including some useful info’ over on the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) web site (use this link)

Colourful

What wasn’t obvious at first sight was the bands of colour on the Rosemary Beetle. I only managed a few pictures of this visitor and due to where it was positioned it wasn’t really possible for me to get a better angle or better picture without disturbing it, so the three pictures below were the best I could do.

Information from the RHS web site …

Rosemary beetle eats the foliage and flowers of various aromatic plants, such as rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme and some other related plants. In most circumstances the beetle can be accepted as part of the biodiversity a healthy garden supports as it does not eat enough to harm healthy plants.

It has spread rapidly since first being found breeding in central London in the late 1990s. It is now widespread throughout England and Wales. It is established in Scotland, present in Northern Ireland and may be established in parts of the Republic of Ireland.