Ugly Cute

I'm having trouble with my camera lately, and being completely inept when it comes to the technical aspects of photography I don't know how to fix it, or if the problem is the camera or me. So it's been really frustrating to take pictures lately. And by lately I mean for about the last year. But much worse in the last few weeks. Today I went out with my camera mostly because I have a new harness for it that makes it a great deal easier to carry it in the woods, and I had the zoom lens on it and didn't change it, because I didn't really think about what I might be trying to photograph today. As it turns out, mostly bugs, so that wasn't a great lens to have. But you work with the tools you've got. 

Backyard Bug of the Day:

This is a tachinid fly (I don't know what species). It's a rather large fly, and one that I think is so ugly it's cute.

This is on a Japanese knotweed plant, along with a lot of bees and other flies:

There is another plant blooming at the edge of the woods that is attracting a lot of attention from bees. I don't know what it's called, or if it's yet ANOTHER invasive plant, but it's very pretty, and the bees certainly like it. It is a tree-ish thing, and the flowers are all way over my head, but with my zoom lens I was able to get a couple of pictures that if you look hard will show how much the bees are loving it:

Each of these pictures has over 30 insects, mostly bees, but at least one lady beetle as well.

When I first spotted this in the woods I thought it was a moth. Then I noticed that it had quivering antennae at both ends, and realized it was two insects mating. I still assumed moths. But looking at it now I think they might be caddisflies.