Life in the garden, 25/07/2009

I spent an ultimately frustrating hour or so in the garden on Saturday morning tyring to get anything like half-decent shots of the various hoverflies that have built up in numbers over the last couple of weeks. Main problems were the speed of the subjects versus the shutter lag on the Coolpix, and the wildly changeable lighting with bright sun changing to dull cloudy light every few minutes. I eventually resorted to netting and potting a few individuals - even that was a game as they are much harder to net than moths. Despite having them potted, the ID of most of them was still beyond me with nothing more than a few internet images to go by. Eristalis tenax Episyrphus balteatus Scaeva pyrastri? Syrphus ribesii? Maybe I'll should look up a decent reference book for hoverflies - any recommendations?