The cardoons in Blarney Castle Gardens have been left to flower, which is what you do if you want bees rather than dinner. This one was about the size of my fist, and the bumblebee had worked its way into the lower edge of it, half buried in the purple. I shot it zoomed in, so only a few centimetres of the florets is sharp and everything behind falls off to green. Some of the heads either side had already browned off and gone to seed, but the bees were busy feeding off the remaining ones.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 4000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
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