Macro photography Ireland

Macro photography shows a world most people walk past without noticing. Bees and hoverflies working between flowers, spiders waiting in their webs, a sundew catching whatever lands on it. These small lives keep the larger ecosystem running, from pollinating plants to keeping insect numbers in check. This gallery covers insects, spiders and other small subjects photographed in woodlands and gardens across Ireland.

A bee covered in pollen on a yellow dandelion flower.
Close-up of a drone collecting nectar from a pink flower with a green blurred background.
Close-up of a bee collecting nectar from a purple flower.
Close-up of a common carder bee on pink flowers with green blurred background.
A ladder backed drone fly, perched on a purple flower with pink and lavender petals against a dark background.
Close-up of an early mining bee with fuzzy orange-brown body and black eyes collecting nectar from a dandelion.
Close-up of a honey bee flying away of from a horse chestnut flower, showing the bee's detailed body and the flower's stamens.
A close-up of a dragonfly perched on the edge of a green leaf, with its large compound eye and antenna visible, against a blurred green background.
Close-up of a buttercup with a Yellow-sided Clover-fly covered in yellow pollen resting on the petals.
A ladder-backed drone-fly sits on a corn flower
A butterfly with orange and black wings perched on a purple flower, with several other purple flowers around.
Close-up of a green veined white butterfly with detailed wings, resting on a green leaf with a dark background.
A five-spot burnet moth shares some knapweed with a crab spider
A five-sport burnet moth spreading it's wings on some knapweed
Close-up of a cross orb-weaver spider with a yellow, brown, and black patterned body, sitting in the center of its web on a dark background.
Close-up of an alder leaf beetle sitting on a green leaf with a blurred green background.
Close-up of a cucumber spider hanging from a web against a black background.
Close-up of a spider with long legs and spines, showing its face with multiple eyes, on a dark background.
Close-up of a sundew plant with dew-covered sticky tentacles, a red ant gets dangerously close to the mucilage on its trichomes, and green grass in the background.
A seven spotted ladybird climbing on a green plant with dewdrops.
Close-up of a ladybird on a green plant stem with water droplets on its red and black spotted shell.
Pink daisy flower with water droplets and a ladybug on it.