A special moment

As mentioned in my previous blog post, one of the highlights of my year is the bug season. I love the freedom of being able to go out with just a lightweight rucksack, spare batteries, spare cards, a drink and my camera with macro lens around my neck. Of course, you never know what you are going to find, but I love the thrill of the chase. Sometimes it’s butterflies or damselflies, while other trips reveal bugs I have never seen before. There are times when I can spend an entire evening searching images in Google, trying to identify my latest find.

When I spotted this golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle fly across the path at my local country park, I knew instantly what he was. My favourite bug! I hadn’t seen one for a couple of years. Actually, there was a similar experience at another reserve over an hour from home a few weeks ago. That time, I found him on a leaf with a pair of huge spiders on either side. Before I had the opportunity to raise my camera, he had flown off again. My guess is that he didn’t like the look of his new neighbours.

I assumed I had missed my chance for the year until this recent encounter, but there was a problem. He was in the shade, surrounded by leaves which were covered in dust and large dead patches. It wasn’t a nice background at all. I tried photographing him from various angles, even bending back the top leaves to let in a bit of light, but the images didn’t do him justice. Then I had an idea. Bending back the corner of the leaf he was standing on, I gently offered my finger as a replacement perch. He walked on immediately and stayed for the next ten minutes.

Anyone familiar with the Nikon D800 knows it is a bit of a beast and hard enough to use with both hands. All the shots I took were done with just one hand. Eventually, I sat down on a nearby bench, so I could try and rest the camera on my other arm, while I turned the bug this way and that. I don’t know what passers-by made of me and my little friend, but I didn’t care. In some respects, I desperately wanted someone to stop and ask what on earth I was doing. I wanted to tell them all about the beetle and that it was my favourite bug of all. In the end, nobody did stop, but I know several people must have wondered about the huge grin on my face. A moment I will never forget.