Paul

Beautiful bird of prey - well captured. Paul.

Nice to see the black-tailed godwits too Geoff - all good captures. Paul.

Puffins are dare I say it? Cute Paul.

Amazing lifer for you, you must be choughed (chuffed - see what I did there?) Paul.

I don't think I have either Geoff - it looks almost alien compared to the ones I normally see. Paul.

Thank you Geoff Paul.

You are correct. They are the big ugly ones! Paul.

Flesh flies look similar to house flies, but are typically larger and have bright red eyes. Adult flesh flies are light gray in color and have a distinctive checkerboard pattern on top of their abdomen. They have three black stripes running down their thorax. Paul.

4 more from today - the first of a face-away hoverfly - obviously playing second fiddle... And a Mirinae of some kind, sucking the guts out of its prey (that small lump of a victim) until it has had it's nibble... Paul.

I think this is the Neriene montana, will edit if I'm wrong. Paul.

Thanks Geoff - I had a willing subject that cared enough not to move much! Paul.

When I watch what flies around the leaves of the bushes, I just see small winged things as well as bees, flies, etc., but when seen individually and close up, there are so many different species! It is remarkable what nature has. Paul.

This is the common froghopper, Philaenus spumarius. It was standing on the stem of a rose, just beneath the bud, and I was able to gently break the flower away from the plant and that allowed me to use the petals as the background as it moved around. It was around 9.30pm when I took these, which probably explains why it didn't bounce off into the garden and gave me the chance to nail a good few shots from various angles, by turning the rose around to get the shots. Paul.

Thanks Geoff. I didn't expect to see the cucumber spider - the last one I found here was years ago. I should consider myself a little bit lucky I suppose. Paul.

8 out of 10 of my photos are not in focus! Paul.

Araneidae family of spiders, the green orb is hard to find because they blend in so damn well... Paul.

You got some Geoff - great news that! Hopefully you'll see more soon. The stink bug is I think a forest bug (or red-legged shield bug). You did well to get 3 flies in one shot without them flying away! Paul.

I had the green lacewings too, they are wonderfully fragile. Paul.

So this morning I ran another two swabs over the sensor and the first photos today have had no cloning of spots done to them at all. In these images, the sensor looks as near to clean as I think it's going to get, though time will tell when different backgrounds come into play and various light levels and colours and brightness. But, hopefully, I've got it sorted, at least until next the dreaded gets inside!!! The example is the Ichneumonid wasp peering over the edge of a leaf on the apple tree uncropped full image, and then cropped in, and then I've got a bee on the laurel and a greenbottle near to it, which is cropped, and that too shows no spots I can see on first inspection. So I'm much happier now, especially as the workflow time will be reduced not having to get rid of 50+ blemished! Paul.

Hopefully a bit better still after the next attempt. Paul.

That's a very nice portrait, well done Geoff. Paul.

Did the first sensor swab clean today - will do another tomorrow - but already there is a massive difference. No dust spots cloned out in this one - compared to the one just above they're light years apart! Paul.

Well, what can I say??? Thank you again for the accolade, it's a pleasure to bring pleasure to the forum - and I enjoy my photography nowadays so much too. Paul.

Lovely smile in the last Paul.