Lily Beetle - June 2020

For my final Image of the Week article of the year I thought I'd revisit some of my favourite images taken during the last 12 months. So here they are, presented in no particular order...

I've kicked off with this image of a Red Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii) sitting amongst the munched on leaves of a Regal Lily (Lilium regale). It's so annoying to see just a handful of these beetles destroy my Lilies each year, but it's sort of worth it to grab a few photos of one of the more photogenic looking beasties to visit the garden!

Digging In - July 2020

The Leaf Cutter Bees (Megachile) were out in force this year, and seemed to be attracted to the Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus) blooms more than any other.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth - August 2020

Without question my favourite garden visitor of the year has to be this Hummingbird Hawk Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum). Obviously I was absolutely delighted to grab this image of it in flight as it collected pollen from a Butterfly Bush (Buddleia).

Prowling Longhorn - July 2020

The Longhorn Beetles (Rutpela maculata) had once been a regular visitor to dad's garden, but had been missing for a number of years. It was great to find some returning this year.

Tulip Light - April 2020

Springtime was definitely the best time of year for floral subjects for me this year, and I loved this image of an unknown variety of Tulip (Tulipa) as it filtered the early morning light through its petals.

Glory of the Snow - April 2020

I was delighted to find a small patch of these Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa) plants growing in my garden in April, as they normally never returned.

Sicilian Bell - May 2020

One of my favourite flowers of all time has to be the Sicilian Honey Garlic (Nectaroscordum siculum), and I loved this close-up shot of the almost waxy looking flower bells produced by the plant.

Raindrop Supports - July 2020

The summertime rain we experienced couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for macro photography, and I used it to my advantage to capture these tiny raindrops resting on the stamens of a Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) flower.

Mexican Star - September 2020

This year was a terrible year for my Dahlia collection, with only a small percentage of my usually reliable tubers producing blooms. Variety 'Mexican Star' had produced the most blooms, although the majority of them had been rather small. However, this lovely maroon coloured flower was of a more regular size and provided me with the ideal floral subject later in the year.

Honey Spurge - July 2020

Finally, the Honey Spurge (Euphorbia mellifera) bush produced these fascinating looking flowers, which aren't exactly pretty, but are definitely interesting to look at and photograph.

So there you have it, a selection of a few of my favourite images from 2020. Hopefully you've enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed shooting them...