Beautiful (or possibly Banded?) Demoiselle
Calopteryx virgo (female)
Size and appearance-wise, Damoiselles are half-way between Damselflies and Dragonflies. Lots of these have appeared in the last few days. Unfortunately they only seem to be visible in the hottest part of the day which of course is the absolute worst time to try and take pictures. A lot of diffused fill flash helped take the edge off the hard sun a bit. These insects tend to have a favourite perching leaf on which they’ll sit for several minutes at a time between darting up into the air and catching small insects. I understand the spiny legs form a basket to scoop up prey in the air. You can also make out what appear to be exposed muscles attached to the bases of the wings.
Coin Lion
The Lion Rampant on the back of a 2p coin. Colours inverted for clarity.
Testing out a different lens configuration, it degrades a touch in the corners but the centre is sharper than anything else I’ve tried at 5x. Looking forward to trying it on a bug.
Unidentified Caterpillar
Can’t seem to find a match for this but I imagine it’s something reasonably common. They get less cute the closer you go… somewhat Geiger-esque.
