It's reassuring to know that bitey midge/mozzie type flies also get bitten, poetic justice for sure :)

I don't usually photograph these, this was about 5-6mm long, think it's a male midge of sorts, but when I saw what was feasting on it I about fell over with surprise. Two image stack in CombineZP, this is uploaded purely for interest purposes :)

I thought I'd try my secondhand Tamron 180mm out on Damselflies, this is a Blue-tailed Damselfly on a grass seed head, I was actually quite pleased with the results. There are a few things that annoy me with this lens, it has a tendency to hunt, it is everso noisy when focusing and it is so very heavy.

I find using a monopod or tripod is essential for insect macro with this lens, but then I use a monopod with my 100mm macro (I even use the Tamrons lens collar on my 100mm). Despite the weight and focusing issues, these are minor problems in my eyes, this is a great lens, it allows a nice distance from the subject and gives a really nice bokeh. I'm looking forward to trying it out on some more Odonata this weekend.

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I was at my new location which is proving to be quite a fruitful area. There are lots of wooden fences at this site and one thing I know, Springtails love to graze on fences.

Anyway, walking along the path in Harrison's Plantation I noticed a darkish spec moving about, I got my magnifying glass out (Never leave home without this x30 loupe) and to my surprise it was a male of the Katiannidae. Genus nov. species nov. it looks to be a mature male and it was the only one about.

Taken at x5 mag, cropped and the subject was moving :o)

It made a nice change to photograph these on a background that was not gloss white, the other colony likes to graze on a white bench at Wollaton Park. This site is about a mile away from the site I originally found these at.

I have a feeling that these guys are doing rather well in the UK, I'm surprised none have been found on mainland Europe yet, I'm sure they are out there :o)

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One last Globular Springtail for 2011, this is Dicyrtomina saundersi with its front leg in a drop of water, it also has a few nice dew drops on its back.

Hope the weather improves as intend on going out for the first macro session of 2012, hangover or not LOL :0)

This may be my last upload of 2011 or maybe not, but more than likely is, so a final HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, until of course the New Year when I will no doubt wish you all a Happy New Year again LOL :0)

Class: Entognatha

Subclass: Collembola

Order: Symphypleona

Family: Dicyrtomidae

Genus: Dicyrtomina

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Primer: Army Painter - White

Cloak:

1. Citadel - Dark Reaper

2. Citadel - Nuln Oil (Spot Shade)

3. Citadel - Dark Reaper & Dawnstone (Blended Highlights)

4. Citadel - Dark Reaper & Administratum Grey (Blended Highlights)

5. Citadel - (Glaze)

Sword:

1. Citadel - Leadbelcher

2. Citadel - Nuln Oil (Shade)

3. Citadel - Leadbelcher

4. Citadel - Chainmail (Highlights)

5. Citadel - Retributor Armour (Handle)

6. Citadel - Agrax Earthshade (Shade)

7. Citadel - (Shade)

Belt:

1. Gamecore - Leadbelcher

2. Citadel - Nuln Oil (Shade)

3. Citadel - Leadbelcher

4. Citadel - Chainmail (Highlights)

5. Citadel - Retributor Armour (Handle)

Skin:

1. Citadel - Bugman's Glow

2. Citadel - Reikland Fleshsade

3. Citadel - Bugman's Glow (Highlight)

4. Citadel - Cadian Fleshtone (Blended Highlight)

5. Citadel - Kisley Flesh (Blended Highlight)

Beard:

1. Citadel - Dawnstone

2. Citadel - Nuln Oil

3. Citadel - Dawnstone

4. Citadel - Administratum Grey (Highlight)

5. Citadel - White Scar (Blended Highlight)

Base:

1. Game Color - Negro Black

2. Army Painter - & PVA Glue

3. Toad King Castings - Skull & Bones Sheets

4. Army Painter - Grass Flock

I've not photographed a Grasshopper in ages, this one was happy to sit on a bench for me, it is Monday afterall. I decided to play around with fill in flash on this one, I had the camera set to aperture priority, flash setting on my camera 1/60-1/200th on aperture priority, my ISO at 800, aperture F/13, flash on TTL and even with this I got a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second, fortunately I had a bench to rest on LOL :o) This was taken with my MP-E at 1x mag, the image is cropped :o)

Then my second task, was the ID, Grasshoppers are very variable in colour and patterns. I tend to struggle with putting an ID to a lot of these Grasshopper species. This one has a bulge on the costal margin and a gentle curve to the keel, which indicates it is Chorthippus parallelus, it is a male as it has long wings, however, I have read that some females can be found with long wings. I have added the two main ID criteria as notes on the image :o)

I have some shots of the female to upload at a later date :0)

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I went out to try and find some Globular Springtails, I searched and searched, then walking past a fence post I noticed a fairly large(5-6mm) dark blob, to my joy it was a Globular Springtail, but not one that I'm familiar with, I think it may be Allacma fusca, but not 100%, quite pleased at finding this, more in comments :)

Taken at 5x magnification and cropped :)

My first Green Shieldbug of the year, had seen a few earlier, but didn't have my camera to hand or they were in built up areas, I'm a bit reluctant to have my full macro kit to hand in populated areas, it would have to be a very special find :)

Another damselfly taken at the MOD, Barry Buddon. It was a lovely purple colour.

OK just one last Common Darter, this is my first adult Sympetrum striolatum portrait for 2013, this guy was on the top of the fountain wall at the Memorial Gardens near the River Trent here in Notts :o)

Now this is an 11 image handheld focus stack with the MP-E 65mm. So what do you think natural light or flash? I will divulge the answer later. This one was very approachable, he flew up a few times only to land next to me again and on occasion he returned with a small snack. They always pull these curious head turns as well, almost like they are assessing the situation :o)

OK this was taken using diffused flash in aperture priority, flash set to ETTL, ISO set at 250 and aperture F/7.1, averaging a shutter speed of 1/100.

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Raining again, when will we see some decent weather, so as I am now a bit bored I have made a little Darter collage, just a bit of fun. More archive stuff to come LOL :)

VIEW ORIGINAL SIZE

A pair of Azure Damselflies in their post mating coupling, this pair were sheltering on a plant on the Grantham Canal towpath and they allowed me to get close enough for a few decent shots. The only problem was the blustery conditions, I had to wait for a lull in the wind to get these shots. I was also using diffused flash for these shots in aperture priority, it does seem to give a more vibrant colour at times. The female on the left doesn't look like she's too happy with the whole affair :o)

After mating the male remains linked to the female and this lasts during the ovipositing process. The male is basically protecting the female from any unwanted advances by other Damselflies. I would like to know if the male selects likely the sites for egg laying as he appears to lead the pair in flight or is there some form of mutual decision making or is it all up to the female?

I have just read that Damsels will stay linked like this for quite a while prior to mating, it is to do with the fit of the males claspers on the thorax of the female, it was described as a lock and key scenario, if the key doesn't fit well then the link up won't make it to mating :0)

EXTRA IMAGE IN COMMENTS

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A very quick macro from this morning, more of a record shot, it stopped raining long enough for a quick garden search of my parents garden, found this guy, took about 5 shots and then it started raining again, RATS!!!!!

Anyway, I hope it clears up again soon for another muddy macro session. I'm not sure on what this one is, it seems to be lacking macrosetae, so could it be a Desoria species, but it does look like Isotomurus palustris and even has a vague resemblence to pseudopalustris, it does have a couple of macro setae so could be Isotomurus sp, I guess this is one for Frans as I can't seem to make my mind up on this one, could possibly be a new addition to the list :o)

Thanks to Frans for ID, Isotomerus maculatus, a new find for the list :0)

Hope everyone has a great weekend :o)

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natural light

A very small Isotomidae, almost translucent in appearance, not sure of ID for this one, is it a juvenile or is it an adult? This one was on a bit of wood I found on the ground, it was a fast moving little fella and was about 1mm in length at a guess, there were no other similar Springtails about, but I have seen these before.

ID could be Parisotoma notabilis, thanks to Frans :o)

Taken at x5 with the MP-E, image cropped :o)

I think I'm going to have to start turning to the bigger bugs in a bit, I have a feeling I should go looking for Bee Flies, one of my fave Diptera, they are such fascinating flies.

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A pair of courting Ischnura elegans, I quite liked this one due to the clean background. I don't think I captured this behaviour at all last year, that was probably down to last years awful weather.

Some Wiki stuff

The Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans, is a European damselfly.

Adult male Blue-tailed Damselflies have a head and thorax patterned with blue and black. They have a largely black abdomen with very narrow pale markings where each segment joins the next. Segment eight, however, is entirely pale blue.

Female Blue-tailed Damselflies come in a variety of colour forms, including a pink form, a violet form and a pale green form. Purple/violet, pink and green forms are juvenile, with the colour darkening as the damselfly ages. Mature female damselflies are usually brown/green, or blue which is an andromorph form.

Damselfly nymphs are aquatic, and prey on small aquatic insects or other aquatic larvae. The adult damselflies prey on small flying insects, caught using their legs like a basket to scoop the prey up while flying, or insects taken from leaves.

I took this one with my Tamron 180mm on a 36mm extension tube and supported with a monopod. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend :o)

NEED TO VIEW LARGE

This little fellow was giving me a right look fro his vantage point on a leaf, I fond lots of Teneral Common Blues sheltering on a fairly low down part of a tree, I liked this pose :)

A new addition to my Harvestman stacking series today and what a beauty, the eyes on this one are stunning. This is a partial focus stack of seven images taken at x5 with the MP-E.

Platybunus triangularis (formerly Rilaena triangularis) is a common species of low vegetation in woods, this one was under a loose piece of bark on the ground and now has to be one of my favourite Opiliones :)

AGAIN VIEW LARGE or ORIGINAL some sweet details within :)

A Dicyrtomina saundersi on a fallen leaf, this was the same leaf that I found the Calvatomina nr superba on. Anyway, this is a 10 image handheld focus stack, I really quite liked the colours here, I have included a rotated crop in the comments.

Really looking forward to the new "Hobbit" movie now, probably more excited about seeing this than Christmas LOL. I started watching the LOTR trilogy last night, I was going to get the extended version on Blu-ray, but you still have to change discs mid movie??????

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On the left: Swampy photo and sticker from his art exhibit

On the right: Bugman has got a motto

A Meerkat taking in the view and enjoying the first day of the Summer, taken on the 5th July when it started being sunny. Thought I'd upload something a bit different, I have a shed load of Damselfly shots, but I think I will hold some back for a bit.

I used my 400mm on 36mm of extension tubes for this one, the Meerkats at the Tropical Butterfly House and Falconry Centre can be photographed at a nice angle as their enclosure has a big rock which they like to congregate on :o)

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Tarquin soon realised how sound his mothers advice was when his dinner decided to try and make a quick get away :)

My very first Aelia acuminata, this is a 5 image natural light stack at F/5.6, the Bishop's Mitre Shieldbug appears to be moving North, according to the British Bugs website this is a Southern species. Hope you like it Maria :o)

I would have loved a deeper stack, but this little guy had other ideas and promptly flew off after the 5th image in the stack LOL ;O)

Yeah I know I'm 3 days late, so thought I'd better make an appearance, this was taken on the one nice day after New Years Day, I've still to do any macro at all this year, so hoping to make use of a small window of opportunity tomorrow before the next storm hits. Things have yet to work out on the job front, so I might be more off Flickr for a while. I need to get something so I can start buying new equipment, I have a hankering for a 400mm F/2.8 at the moment, so that's my motivation at present LOL ;o)

Anyway, I had gone to Wollaton Hall with a tub of bird food in the hope of photographing birds, but Mr Squiggles had other ideas, the Squirrels near Wollaton Hall are very well fed and I think Mr Squiggles shows this well, but don't worry the birds did get a fair share of the grub. I used my 400mm F/5.6 on a 36mm extension tube, this got some nice close up shots of these guys, I love those furry little paws :o)

HAPPY NEW YEAR :o)

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Why not have a go to guess the damsel? Top left No 01 - No14 bottom right.

Well done Eddie (Wildlife The Bugman) First Winner

A Rainbow Lorikeet from the Tropical Butterfly House near Sheffield, I hadn't been into a Butterfly House in years, it was a hot day outside, but in there the humidity was a real shock, but I was greeted by this colourful Parrot and was able to get so close that I could use my 100mm macro lens, first time I've ever used this lens on a bird at such close quarters, but I guess these guys are used to people. I really loved the colours on these attractive Parrots, one of the prettiest things I've ever seen, I liked the bokeh as well :0)

Wiki stuff

The Rainbow Lorikeet, (Trichoglossus haematodus) is a species of Australasian parrot found in Australia, eastern Indonesia (Maluku and Western New Guinea), Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In Australia, it is common along the eastern seaboard, from Queensland to South Australia and northwest Tasmania. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. Several taxa traditionally listed as subspecies of the Rainbow Lorikeet are increasingly treated as separate species.

The Rainbow Lorikeet is a medium-sized parrot, with the length ranging from 25–30 cm (9.8-11.8 in) in size, and has a wingspan of about 17 cm (6.7 in). The weight varies from 75–157 g (2.6–5.5 oz). The plumage of the nominate race, as with all subspecies, is very bright. The head is deep blue with a greenish-yellow nuchal collar, and the rest of the upperparts (wings, back and tail) are deep green. The chest is red with blue-black barring. The belly is deep green, and the thighs and rump are yellow with deep green barring. In flight a yellow wing-bar contrasts clearly with the red underwing coverts.

There is little to visually distinguish between the sexes, however to a keen observer of their colouring and behaviour, their dimorphism is readily apparent.

Juveniles have a black beak, which gradually brightens to orange in the adults.

The markings of the best known subspecies T. h. moluccanus resemble those of the nominate race, but with a blue belly and a more orange breast with little or no blue-black barring. Other subspecies largely resemble either the nominate race or T. h. moluccanus, or are intermediate between them. Two exceptions are T. h. flavicans and T. h. rosenbergii. In the rather variable T. h. flavicans the green of some individuals is dull, almost olivaceous, but in others the green hue approaches that typical of the Rainbow Lorikeet. T. h. rosenbergii is highly distinctive and several features separates it from all other subspecies: Its wing-bars are deep orange (not contrasting clearly with the red underwing coverts in flight), the entire nape is yellow bordered by a narrow red band and the dark blue barring to the red chest is very broad.

Still having major computer issues, this image was uploaded a few days back so I could post something at a later date, I hope to be back on line properly soon, it is doing my head in, so many apologies.

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Thought I'd upload a Pseudoscorpion, this individual watched this very hairy Mite walk past, I guess it was weighing it up as a potential snack, it decided no in the end. It was interesting watching this guy, you could watch it's posture changing as the Mite went by. It was visibly following the Mites movements with it's pincers.

Actually seem to have a window of sunshine today, I fear it will be short lived judging by the forecast, tomorrow is going to be a literal wash out :o(

Hoping I can find some new stuff soon, I went out yesterday afternoon and there didn't seem to be much about at all, I hope it warms up and the Damselflies can start emerging up this way :o)

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Went out for a short while, I am starting to think that the Winter may beat me, my hands felt frozen taking these shots. I was still finding a fair few of these guys :)

This little Dicyrtomina saundersi seems to have gotten it's foot stuck to it's antennae with a water drop, I suppose when you are this small then even the surface tension in a water drop is enough to stick things together. I seem to remember that the design of the feet on these guys means they can stick to wet surfaces like magnets :)

Taken at x5 with the MP-E :)

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It did free itself in the end and went on it's way :)

After watching this, it is possible that this guy was grooming :)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N6fIid5yxY

I think I got the right Helophilus species here, I really must get that Hoverfly guide. Anyway, I found this luvved up pair today and tried a focus stack using the fill in technique, this was a 7 image handheld focus stack at F/9 using ISO200 and a shutter speed of 1/60, took a lot of editing as the leaf kept moving and the wings kept moving, but on the whole for what it is I'm fairly happy. Also interesting to note its Latin name means Dangling Sun-lover :o)

Also made an interesting discovery today, Melton Mowbray has Large Red Damselflies, my parents live here and I grew up here as a kid in the eighties and this is the first time I've seen them here, how strange :o)

Hope everyone has a great week ahead :o)

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Tried to see if I could do a spot of Dragonfly whispering, yep the charm is still there, how could she resist. Quite liked the bokeh of the Grantham canal in the background :)

I did see Four Spotted Chasers and got some shots, but they were settling too far away, next time maybe :)

This is a female Hairy Dragonfly, Brachytron pratense

Thank's to "Eddie The Bugman" for the I.D.

As well as Red Deer, Wollaton also has a rather lovely herd of Fallow Deer (Dama dama), this fine fellow had broken away from the main herd for a bit of peace and quiet, there was a rather noisy male moving around the herd, I imagine he was exerting his dominance, unfortunately they were in a conservation area and I could not get any decent shots of the rest of the herd. I must admit these are handsome animals, not as imposing or as grand as Red Deer, but they are handsome beasts. This guy didn't seem to mind my presence and I was able to get close enough, I don't like getting too close to these guys as I like to respect their personal space :o)

I'm really in a Cervidae mood this week, I will back to the macro at some point, but if the weather behaves then it's more Deer tomorrow, I have a feeling there will be a lot more photographers at Wollaton on Saturday :o)

Hope you all have a great weekend :o)

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This is a typical scene I'm greeted with if I can get myself up before sunrise, at about 5:15am it is such a calm and serene place first, only the sound of birds at this time, give it an hour and then you have the joggers and dog walkers. I like to get there first and take in the calm, hoping to do the same tomorrow as well, I really need to track down some Emerald Damselflies, I did see a few this morning, but I had left it too late, I need to find them first thing :o)

I was amazed at the number of Mozzies about, but luckily they didn't seem to want to bother me.

This is a 3 image HDR, I only had my 100mm with me, next time I must bring my 50mm :o)

Have a great weekend everybody, I've got loads of Collembola images to get through, so might be posting a few this weekend :o)

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Each of the raised pale lumps in the Duckweed is an egg, these will eventually hatch out new Sminthurides aquaticus are born.

At my latest photo shoot I told Harmony to just go for it and she started striking all the poses.

These are actually cleaning movements this Damsel is going through and believe it or not this is the same Damselfly as in the previous upload :)

Starting to move it's legs, missed the shot when it pulled itself out unfortunately, might have been due to a jogger :)

A rather large Mite on my parents garden refuse bin, I think this one is tucking in to a Psocid nymph, pretty sure of that looking at the shape of the head and the antennae. Quite voracious predators these Red Spider Mites, I think they are good for gardens as I think they prey on Aphids as well.

Anyway, dead chuffed with this a 5 image focus stack at x5 on my MP-E. Had a major disaster today, I broke my extension tubes, so have been using my 1.4x extender, not too bad the 1.4x, at x7 mag if you bring the aperture to F/7.1 you can still get decent details :o)

Reckon I'm getting Kenko's next, those Meike ones are not as tough as I thought they would be :o)

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I found lots of these Bugs all over these leaves, I have not seen these before, I am guessing that they may be a nymph stage of a Hopper of sorts, any help appreciated on this one and what's with the fuzz :)

Thanks to Jonathan(chirpy) for ID, Psyllid nymph :)

A female Sympetrum striolatum in a partial obelisk position, the obelisk is usually a pose that Dragonflies go into when it is very hot and is used to prevent overheating. Here is what Wiki says :-

The obelisk posture is a handstand-like position that some dragonflies and damselflies assume to prevent overheating on sunny days. The abdomen is raised until its tip points at the sun, minimizing the surface area exposed to solar radiation. When the sun is close to directly overhead, the vertical alignment of the insect's body suggests an obelisk.

When the sun is low but the air is still hot, dragonflies may adopt a modified obelisk position with the abdomen only partially raised.

This female was found on an early evening walk around the Memorial Gardens by the Victoria Embankment, I think she is a fairly young individual. This one was found posing around the rockery area and the background is a sandstone rock. I made an interesting discovery as well, it seems the central fountains are a breeding ground for Darters, numerous exuviae were found on the stone edges and I observed numerous Darters ovipositing in tandem, I had assumed the water was treated, I assumed wrong, so an early rise I think to see if I can get some emerging Dragons :o)

Happy Dragonfly Thursday :o)

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not a great photo - I know Eddie the bugman gets up early when the bugs are sluggish, but hats off to his picture - these things never stop moving - but a great insect - visually at least, its habits are not so attractive - garden, Hamworthy, Poole, Dorset, UK

For some reason in my neck of the woods these guys are not as common as Dicyrtomina saundersi. I found this one at Wollaton Park a few weeks back and it is the first time I've been able to focus stack this species. This was a 9 image handheld focus stack at x7 magnification using F/5.6. The colours of ornata always seem a touch brighter than saundersi, I have also noticed that the dorsal macrosetae on this individual are quite pronounced when compared to saundersi, but that may be because this one is still quite young(juvenile).

Anyway, the weather here has been rubbish for the past few days and I'm struggling to find anything new to photograph, I think all the Springtails have been washed away LOL :o)

Hope everyone has a great weekend and how about a few days of sunshine, please!!!!! LOL :o)

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NECA TMNT Cartoon (Turtles In Disguise) Raphael & Michelangelo /// Nintendo, Games, TV, controllers and zapper gun all made by Retroldtech)

Pisaura mirablis(thanks to eddie the bugman for the ID!!^_^)

A crooning Damselfly at Melton Country Park, I found this rather unusual Damselfly today, I have to date not seen one with such a bizarre colour scheme, usually the area between the eyes is blue, but not on this one, I think it is a Common Blue damselfly, if anyone can shed any light on this colour variation I would be interested to here from you :)

These are very common Springtails, they are commonly found on trees, but I tend to notice them on fences and benches, they are usually feeding near the joints of the woodwork and if you get too near they run for cover :)

These are about 1.8mm in length and are a violet/blue in colour, the one illustrated is feeding and I think that is how I managed to get close enough :)

Class Collembola

Order Entomobryomorpha

Superfamily Isotomoidea

Family Isotomidae

Subfamily Isotominae

Genus Vertagopus

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Set adrift on memory bliss of you...

Baby you send me, baby you send me...

Set adrift on memory bliss of you

The camera pans the cocktail glass,

Behind a blind of plastic plants;

I found the lady with the fat diamond ring

Then you know I can't remember a damn thing

I think it's one of those de ja vu things,

Or a dream that's tryin' to tell me something

Or will I ever stop thinkin' about it

I don't know, I doubt it

Subterranean by design,

I wonder what I would find if I met you,

Let my eyes caress you,

Until I meet the thought of Missess Princess Who?

I often wonder what makes her work

I guess I'll leave that question to the experts,

Assuming that there are some out there

They're probably alone, solitaire

I can remember when I caught up

With a pastime intimate friend

She said, "Bet you're probably gonna say I look lovely,

But you probably don't think nothin' of me."

She was right, though, I can't lie

She's just one of those corners in my mind,

And I just put her right back with the rest

That's the way it goes, I guess

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AOVf9p9ht4

One thing I have learnt about Globular Springtails is that they are quite at home on the surface of water, I have even observed them jumping quite effectively on water. This one is Dicyrtomina saundersi and this one was on the surface of a small puddle on a fallen tree, quite amusing as the wind blew they would spin around on the water, I watched this one and eventually he made it back to terra firma :)

There are species of Springtail that thrive on the surface film of water and some reach significant numbers on small fresh water puddles or ponds :)

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Finally after years of wanting to see and photograph one, I got my first Broad-bodied Chaser capture this afternoon. It was really hot out and I had spotted a male Chaser patrolling its territory, but it was well out of reach for a decent shot. So I had a walk around as I had seen another fly into his territory, to my delight there he was perched on top of a reed in the middle of the pond and within range as well, I was using my 400mm on a 36mm extension tube on my heavy duty Manfrotto tripod, I decided to shoot at a higher angle to try and get as much of the Dragon as possible. Great fun watching these, out of all the Dragons I've watched these guys are real fighters and are not scared to see off an Emperor Dragonfly, just need to get a close up classic Broad-bodied Chaser shot, but happy for now :o)

Having real connectivity issues at the moment, so currently trying to upload images at a Coffee House, even their internet is absolutely awful, even had to move to a different Coffee Shop, hoping normal service will be resumed soon :o)

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Well it's Autumn and these guys are everywhere, I love Crane flies, they have some very interesting features, especially those metallic green eyes.

There was a misguided myth that these were actually really venomous, but could not bite. Truth is there was a mix up with the name Daddy Longlegs, in certain places a common cellar spider also had this nickname, it was thought these were very venomous because they were apparently seen catching Black Widow Spiders, so far unsubstantiated. They were found to have a very mild venom, that caused a very mild burning sensation and nothing more :)

The Daddy Longlegs Fly or Crane fly is most definitely harmless, so don't pull their wings and legs off kids LOL :):)

Here is the Youtube clip of Ricky Gervais perpetuating this myth LOL :)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSZdHdfF4G4

And here's the Discovery Channel debunking the myth about the Cellar Spider/ Daddy Longlegs :)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1DzkM0zqDQ&feature=related

Just found this link which suggests that Cellar Spiders do eat Redbacks, but no evidence as yet to support this :)

www.spiderzrule.com/daddy.htm

Would be curious to know if anyone knows of any evidence to support Cellar Spiders eating Black Widows, anyone seen any photos of this behaviour :)

Here's a more scientific debunking of the myth :)

spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

Well I made a trip to Sheffield Botanical Gardens and I found plenty of exotic Collembola, but this was my favourite. This is a mature individual and is also known as Katianna sp. 3. This one is thought to have been brought in with imported plants and can often be found at Botanical Gardens. This species is very common at Sheffield Botanical Gardens, especially around the Water and Rock Gardens, it seems to favour the Ericaceae that grow there. I found these on virtually every fallen leaf in that area of the gardens. It is also interesting to note that these can also be found in the Hot House, often found on the pools of water in the Bromeliads. It is thought these originate from Australasia. These are about 0.8mm in length.

I have to say that these are one of the most colourful Collembola that I find there, they are walking modern art :o)

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Sorry corny title, but this is a rather lovely Salticus scenicus crawling around on the brickwork of Lady Bay Bridge, really happy with the details in this shot.

One thing I found with these guys, if I use TTL on the flash it scares the hell out of them and they jump backwards. So I went into manual flash settings and the difference was remarkable, hardly any reaction at all.

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