Close but no cigar. That one is oedemera lurida, a bit smaller than nobilis and the males don't have the weight lifter thighs. We don't seem to get nobilis here sadly.
You must be right. Those 2 species look quite similar, and as you say the most significant difference is between the males of the 2 species. I've only seen O. nobilis specimens where I live, and it seems they are much more common than the O. lurida ones, hence my hasty (and erroneous) reply to your post.
@wild edges and @Papi Jo, your photos are always amazing. Do you mind me asking if that is your day job? (Sorry if it's too nosey 😉)
Thanks! I can only speak for myself. Photography in general (and macro-photography more specifically) has been my hobby for a number of years. Link to my photo site. Sadly, recently I have restricted my field of investigation to my garden, as insects seem to have almost disappeared from my favourite spots in the nearby countryside.
Just a hobby for me. I have to use photography for recording buildings for work though so some of the skills transfer.
Here's a question for anyone with knowledge of insects. I took a photo of this tiny, black insect that I thought was a moth. It was probably not much more than 5mm long and very thin so the detail is hard to make out. I can't find a moth to match but the more I look at it the more I think it might be a caddisfly There's not much information about tiny caddisflies around either though and the antennae are a bit short for the ones I can find. Any other bright ideas?
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
Thanks! I can only speak for myself. Photography in general (and macro-photography more specifically) has been my hobby for a number of years. Link to my photo site. Sadly, recently I have restricted my field of investigation to my garden, as insects seem to have almost disappeared from my favourite spots in the nearby countryside.
The orange fly?
Moth
Bee (leafcutter?)
I agree that it is a leaf-cutter bee.