Not so creepy crawlies

I was moving my seedlings into the sunshine the other day and noticed the front garden was full of flying insects. When they come out in force you know the weather is definitely on a turn for the better. BBQs and Pimms here we come! So this weeks post is a celebration of the return of the bees and butterflies. The not so creepy looking crawlies of the garden.

Thanks to a very vague search for 'hairy flying insect uk' I managed to identify this as a flying bee. It hovers motionless in the air before darting onto a flower. Apparently it's a type of fly but it imitates a bees, hence the name. Their hairy bodies make them good pollinators.

An Orange-tip butterfly landed in the garden a few days ago. I tried to get a better photo but it kept flapping! Hey ho, you can still see the patterns and colour in the wings quite well.

And lastly, I wanted to show you a photo of the blackbird that keeps visiting our garden every day. It's easy to tell it's him because he has a marks on his face. He's getting really tame now. You can be stood a foot away and he'll happily carry on digging for worms.

I feel like we should give him a name, does anyone have any ideas?

I'm considering investing in a macro lens for our DSLR in a few months time, probably early next year now. The macro setting on our other camera does a good job but for the amount of detail I want to capture I think I need a dedicated lens. If you have any recommendations drop me a comment below. I don't know where to start :)