The coronavirus lockdown of spring and summer 2020 gave me all the incentive I needed to explore my own back garden, looking for interesting plants, animals and insects to photograph and video.
My weapon of choice for this endeavour was my trusty macro lens, allowing me to get really close to the action while blurring out distracting backgrounds.
My wife Liz, who's into herbs, had planted some chives in a raised bed, which had bloomed into rather striking purple flowerheads.
Our local bees loved them, and I saw all sorts of different pollinators clambering about on the petals.
But the most striking insect I saw sipping the nectar was a rather large bumblebee, with an unusual furry orange bottom.
A little googling led me to identify this beauty as a Red Tailed Bumblebee, a relatively common bee found in most UK locations.
They are certainly welcome in my garden, and I had a fun few minutes trying to capture them in this video.
Filename - red tailed bumblebees 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 100mm macro
Exposure - Aperture f/11 with ISO selected to give 1/60 sec shutter speed.
Filters - Polarising filter used to remove glare and enhance colours.
Location - My back garden
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (1080p HD format also available)
Clip duration - 55 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.