Bright but cool.
Knapweed seedheads are packed full of nutrients for much if the year.
This fact is not missed by the various insects that feed on the seeds during the summer and autumn. Here the larva of a Picture-wing fly (Tephritid sp.) occupies the area that once contained the seeds.
This shot shows the scale, and draws our attention to the red dot towards the top right:
The red dot turned out to be a much smaller fly larva, about 2 mm long.
And very much smaller still, this translucent white creature, perhaps 200 microns long.
A couple of orange fly larvae occupied other parts of the flower head.
In the 17th century, Jonathan Swift observed the idea of
self-similarity in nature with:
"So nat'ralists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum."
This was itself parodied by the Victorian mathematician Augustus De
Morgan:
"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on,
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."
These poems might be written with more than a hint of humour, but they reflect my philosophy on wildlife to a very acute degree.