Hey friends! How are ya? 

This week has been insect week one of my favourite weeks in the whole year! Insect week – which is run by the Royal entomology society is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about bugs and creepy crawlies! This year I thought I’d share seven photos of seven different types of bugs I’ve recently seen.

I don’t claim to have anywhere near the skillset of a professional photographer and am generally really pleased if my subject hasn’t flown/crawled away before I’ve had a chance to take a few photographs! Some of these are better than others but the thing about photography (in my opinion) is that it doesn’t always need to be perfect, just having fun is key!

Kicking off Insect week 2024 are these cute little green leaf bugs, something I find amazing with bug photography is that they always look so much bigger than in real life, these little guys are actually on the head of an ox eye daisy.

Who doesn’t love a Ladybird beetle!? I spotted this seven spot ladybird napping on the bud of a foxglove.

This isn’t one of my sharper focused photos, but how often do you get the opportunity to snap a piccy of a butterfly upside down! I’d spent about 15 minutes chasing this lovely Painted lady butterfly around my Wildspace, it had been raining over night and the flowers were still quite wet and when it landed on the cornflower it just slipped off and hung there for about a minute (more or less). 

Its one of my favourite painted lady photos just because its a little imperfect and  slightly unusual!

A sure sign of summer is the reemergence of shield bugs, I think this one is the Common green shield bug. I think in the US they’re called Stink bugs although I’ve always thought that name is a little unfair as the smell they give off is apparently quite like marzipan. Which I don’t think is too bad…but then I like marzipan!

We get so many different shield bugs here that I might even sit and draw them all!

I was adding a bit more to my Wildspace and this gorgeous Dor beetle climbed up my trusty old spade. I love these beetles, they’re so laid back and not in a hurry, plus they have the most amazing feet! Apparently they can live for up to three years!

This one is one from my trip to Cubert common, there were loads of yellow rattle plants that had gone over and begun to dry out. I thought it was pretty cool how the tiny banded snail was sort of camouflaging as one of the seed pods (I saw quite a few snails doing the same thing).

I’m so super happy was this photo the light was amazing!

I couldn’t not include a fluffy bumblebee in this collection, I’m having real trouble getting my camera to focus on the bugs at the moment – they just won’t sit still for long enough! So I was so happy to have taken a decent photograph of such a fluffy little chap.

The Painted lady one is my favourite, very closely followed by the snail one and then the Dor beetle as I’m super happy with that picture as there’s such detail and its so in focus.

Seven photographs of seven different bugs, that just about wraps up this years Insect week! I really hope you enjoyed these buggy photos, do you have a favourite? Hopefully you’ll be back to read more of my nature filled posts in the future, thank you so much for checking out my blog and have a great weekend!