Honey Spurge Sucker - May 2021

It was a funny old day weather wise for my photo shoot in dad's garden this week. The day started off cold and sunny, warmed up during the morning, rained over lunchtime, and had a mixture of hail, sleet and snow falling by the end of the afternoon.

Thankfully I managed to get outside before it rained and was treated to my first Fly photo of the year, with this Greenbottle (Lucilia caesar) collecting nectar from the Honey Spurge (Euphorbia mellifera) bush.

Bumblebee Acrobatics - May 2021

There were also a few Bumblebees (Bombus) around, and they seemed to love the Forest Flame (Pieris) bush. This particular Bumblebee was performing all sorts of acrobatics in order to get into the small flowers.

Fly Dandelion - May 2021

This particular Fly seemed more interested in getting some energy from the sun, and had found a timely resiting place on this Dandelion (Taraxacum) clock.

Resting Fly - May 2021

While another little Fly had opted to warm up on one of the green leaves of a hedge.

Green Alkanet - May 2021

New blooms this week included the often maligned, but nottheless pretty flowers of the Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) plants.

Bay Tree Blossom - May 2021

The Bay (Laurus nobilis) trees had also burst into bloom, and seemed to have lots more flowers than was usual.

Spanish Bluebells - May 2021

The Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica) had returned, and were putting on a marvellous display, although I was a bit sad that none of the English Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) had returned... at least not yet!

Pittosposum Blossom - May 2021

The Pittosporum bush blossom continued to confound. It was so dull and so small it was a wonder it ever got pollinated by passing insects.

Tartarian Honeysuckle - May 2021

The Tartarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) bushes were full of blossom for another year, although with high winds in the weather forecast, it probably wouldn't last for long.

Final Camellia - May 2021

Finally, what would probably be the final Camellia bloom had opened and was enjoying the sunshine. It had been quite a short season for the Camellia bushes this year, as they'd only began flowering in March.

So this week I went with Honey Spurge Sucker as my Image of the Week simply because it was my first decent Fly photo of the year...