More wildlife pics

Over the last few days my garden has been swarming with bees,  hoverflies etc. I have even seen several butterflies, though most of those have been the unwelcome white ones. I have had several sightings of small blue butterflies, but they are exceptionally difficult to photograph because they are tiny and they never seem to sit still. The Gatekeeper is more obliging though...

In my next photo you can see two Gatekeepers side-by-side. One was a lot bigger than the other, and they had different markings. I have learned that the smaller male butterfly has black bars on its forewings (lower left), whereas the larger female has plainer forewings (upper right).

Female Gatekeeper



Male Gatekeeper

The flowering Oregano is a veritable bee-magnet. Almost every flower-stem seems to have a bee permanently perched on it!

Most of the photos in this sequence are of the White-tailed Bumble Bee, but I have also seen Red-tailed and Buff-tailed ones. This is evidently a Red-tailed one:

Here's a bee and a Gatekeeper on the same flower.

This is a type of Hoverfly that I see quite frequently. I think it is the Banded Hoverfly Volucella Zonaria.

This is a very small bee of some sort. I don't know what type it is. Oh, and you can see a couple of Pollen Beetles too. They are everywhere at this time of year.

Here he is again... (same bee, different flower).

Making a change from insects, here's a rare sighting of the shy Nuthatch. It's a poor photo, taken at full zoom, through glass on a rainy day, but you have to seize opportunities like this whenever they arise!