Pest or picture perfect? Lives of bugs captured in striking detail

Jimmy Reid photographed this yellowjacket wasp near his home in Loanhead

When Jimmy Reid goes looking for incredible wildlife to photograph, he doesn't have to stray very far from home.

He looks under drain covers, beneath rocks and even inside the dilapidated shed in his garden in Loanhead, Midlothian.

To some, the wasps, moths, ants and spiders that emerge may be considered mundane, or even a pest.

To Jimmy, a professional photographer, they are the subject of striking close-up shots revealing fascinating detail.

An early mining bee sleeping in a garden in Loanhead

"I look in the strangest places and I usually get lucky," he told BBC Scotland News.

"My shed seems to be a gold mine because it's falling apart.

"It's incredible that I've been doing this for 10 years but I still find creatures that I've never seen before."

An emperor moth found in the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh

The 39-year-old father also travels to nearby woods and country parks to find new species that he hasn't yet photographed.

"It's so exciting that I'm tempted to go out most evenings in the summer hunting for new subjects whether it be birds or bugs," he said.

"When I'm taking pictures of bees and wasps I try to do this at night when they are sleeping as they are less likely to move - but they are hard to find."

Wood ant found on a pine tree in Saulton Big Wood, East Lothian

A pond slater found in a clump of algae in Straiton pond in Midlothian

Three snipe flies found at Flanders Moss, Stirling

A male cucumber spider eating a fly in Bilston Woods, Midlothian

A yellow jacket wasp being swarmed by ants

A crane fly found in an Edinburgh garden

A shield bug in Loanhead

Hoverfly in an Edinburgh back garden

A tiger beetle found at Saulton Big Wood

Crane fly with parasitic mites found in Loanhead

Donacia-semicuprea - a type of beetle found at Flanders Moss in Stirling

A Bee -fly with its proboscis found at Blackford-Pond in Edinburgh

A ruby tailed wasp at Musselburgh Lagoons in East Lothian

A Shield bug laying eggs in Loanhead

An owl coughing up a pellet in the Pentland Hills in Edinburgh

Jimmy Reid wears camouflage gear to take pictures of owls