Well another pleasant afternoon spent doing macrophotography in local woodland and what a great day as well.

This is possibly one of the most bizarre and gruesome Collembola finds I've ever made. Whilst scanning bits of fallen branch I noticed what looked like furry lumps, at first I thought they were just fungal fruiting bodies, but on closer examination I noticed antennae. So what we have here is a Dicyrtomina ornata that has succumbed to a parasitic fungal infection. In this image the fungi is erupting from the abdomen of the Dicyrtomina and will be producing spores to infect other passing individuals. There were other similar infected individuals on the same branch, so I imagine it to be too much of a coincidence, so I'm guessing this fungi specialises in growing on Dicyrtomina species, I'm sure Frans will be able to enlighten us more :o)

A link courtesy of Frans about possible fungal infection

www.collembola.org/publicat/patholog.htm

Anyway, I decided to do some focus stacks, this is the first, a 13 image handheld focus stack at x7 magnification using an F/5.0 aperture. There may be a few more stacks of this one at a later date :o)

VIEW ON BLACK

Well I went out on a walk today and the weather was not really in my favour, rain and gales seemed to be the order of the day, did have a period of sunshine though.

This was my only real find of the day, I was looking under fallen leaves near bracken and found loads of these little Planthopper nymphs, not sure on ID, but thinking possibly Scottianella dalei, but that's just going on one image I found in the British Bugs Gallery and that was a ? image.

Anyway, this is a 12 image handheld focus stack on a windy day, the leaf it was on was fluttering a bit every so often, also the Planthopper did move once, but not by that much. I used my MP-E at x5 magnification with an F/5.6 aperture, the leaf was on the ground and I was trying to shelter it from the wind as best as possible. I quite like the colours on this species, I love Planthoppers, they are curious little things :o)

VIEW LARGE and EXTRA IMAGES IN COMMENTS

Raindrops on Damsels and Damsels on Rhododendrons, don't worry this one was sheltering and not stuck, I hope you are all watching Springwatch :)

VIEW LARGE

A not so great shot of a globular springtail roaming about a leaf, after a shower of rain, in the garden of the croft we rented near Glenuig. It didn't wan to stay still, and then disappeared, so this is the best shot I got. I'd love to know which species this might be (Sminthurus viridis, thanks Eddie), as I don't think I've seen this one before.

A juvenile Calvatomina rufescens I found on my day off on Monday. This one was about 0.8mm long at a guess, definitely a juvenile and I think it had recently moulted, which might explain the mottled colouration, it was standing over its old shed skin when I first found it.

It seems Springtail photography is the order of the week, I didn't see one Damselfly on my walk on Monday and very little else. So I ended up turning over fallen branches and twigs to find macro subjects. Need some warm sunshine soon :o)

This was a single shallow DOF shot of this little one, I just loved the colours. I used my MP-E on a 36mm tube and my 1.4x converter. I used an aperture of F/5.6 for this one.

Bugman could bite the dust !

A close stack of a newly emerged Sympetrum striolatum that was close to taking to the air for the first time, you can just make out the out of focus eye of the exuviae in the bottom left.

This was a rather ambitious handheld focus stack of 18 images. For this one I was in manual and was using diffused flash, the aperture was F/7.1, ISO 200 and a 1/160 shutter speed. I have cropped the image as well.

Thanks for the positive feedback on my last video, it meant a lot to me and if you haven't seen it the link is here :-

www.flickr.com/photos/odonataman/9509318393/

NEEDS TO BE VIEWED LARGE :O)

Well who else will blow it for me!! lol

Re-posting this picture because I've just come back from London, collecting the British Wildlife Photography Awards book, because my picture was included this year :o) Had a great time meeting up with Oliver Wright, Eddie the Bugman and Jamie Hall, others too, a good evening!

The book is available to buy here if you're interested, its packed full of fantastic pictures. I didn't win any category or get highly commended, I was just included in the book in the Animal Behaviour section, so there's some brilliant stuff in there.

A newly emerged Large Red Damselfly getting ready for a new life, I found this one next to its exuviae on a wooden observation deck over the pond at Wilford Claypit, I must have just missed the emergence, there were a few others nearby, still nice to see them appearing. I will have to try an early rise on a nice day and hope to actually photograph the emergence sequence.

This is a 5 image handheld stack and I have cropped the original image quite a bit, I kind of wanted to give a feel of symmetry, I also liked the coppery tones of the exoskeleton :o)

Just noticed how this new Flickr is geared up for mobile devices, this image is a real screen filler on an iPad, whereas on my laptop it doesn't fill the screen.

I am now on 500px as well, don't worry not planning on leaving Flickr, just trying out another site.

500px.com/photo/34618126

VIEW LARGE OR ORIGINAL

A Common Blue Damselfly in a strange land, this one was overnighting on a Dock flower head. I hope to find some soon, not seen one for a few days, worried we are starting to get a bit too far into the season now and numbers will start dropping off.

Thought I'd upload another of the images of a freshly emerged LRD, in this shot I got a slightly different angle where I had my camera almost level with the Damselfly, this also created an almost misty effect which I rather liked. I was going to upload another stack I did of the messy adult LRD, as always you look at other stacks and you soon find images you really wish you had uploaded first, I really need to get some stacks of other Damselfly species.

Anyway, this one was a 10 image handheld stack, I liked the colours and contrast in this one, also some sweet details. It's been a funny season so far, the one species that evaded me for so many years locally, has now become the most photographed so far this year, but then I love LRDs and can you blame me LOL :o)

Also sad to hear they have axed the annual FOCUS on imaging fair, also looks like Jessops is reopening here in Nottingham :o)

VIEW LARGE

Well the sum total of this weekends macro and this is it, an Allacma fusca ♀ (= var. pustulata), a head on stack of only 3 images, I used my MP-E on my 1.4x teleconverter and a 36mm extension tube at an F/6.3 aperture, it was just one of those things, this beauty was just too active and I would have liked a deeper stack at a wider aperture, but she wouldn't have it, she jumped off her stick shortly after this. However, this gives you an idea of how gorgeous this female colour variety can be. Also note the near symmetrical markings on her face as well. Now as I understand this is possibly a pharate phase, this means she will moult shortly, but I don't see the typical white feet associated with this, I have another stack I will upload later that clearly displays the pre moult white feet. This little lady was about 2.5mm in length, found on a fallen stick, the white is actually some sort of fungal growth, I think she may be feasting on it and the green background is grass etc :o)

Anyway, I hope all are well and I wish you all well over the coming week :o)

VIEW LARGE

A dragonfly doing what dragonflies do.... flying!

Yeah, I know its not perfect, but its my first dragonfly! And its flying!

The Emperor dragonfly, Anax imperator

Thanks to Wildlife On The Go The Bugman for ID

My current fave Globular Springtail is Dicyrtomina minuta, I love these so much, they always seem to be quite a bit smaller than the other Dicyrtomina or maybe that's just me, this little one was using the midvein of a leaf as a main highway, busily scurrying up and down, question is now, do I like these more than Damselflies? Hmmmmm, will have to ponder on that a while ;0)

Class: Entognatha

Subclass: Collembola

Order: Symphypleona

Family: Dicyrtomidae

Genus: Dicyrtomina

VIEW ON BLACK

A Common Blue Butterfly on one glorious Summer afternoon in 2013, just perched on dry grass waiting :o)

Just like I'm waiting for Spring to arrive, not long to go now, once we get February out of the way, then things will start appearing :o)

I really must try more Butterfly shots this year, there are so many species I have yet to find :o)

A rather unusual look at a Damselfly. This is a teneral Common Blue Damselfly I found at Wollaton yesterday, being quite a cool day there were a lot of grounded inactive Damselflies on low vegetation, this allowed for this interesting angle. This nicely illustrates the complex nature of a Damselflies mouthparts, it is easy to forget that these guys are accomplished predators.

This was a 4 image stack at F/8, not my deepest of stacks, but thought it was interesting to see.

I had a wonderful afternoon hunting Tigers today, well that's actually Green Tiger Beetles, Cicindela campestris. Being a nice sunny day I decided to see if any were about at Newstead. There were plenty out and about, but the main problem was getting close to them. Eventually I ended up using my 100mm macro lens on 48mm of extension tubes, just to give some working distance. Even then it was really hard work trying to get anywhere near them. Eventually I got a few lucky shots. My next mission is to try and get some MP-E portraits.

This was a 7 image stack at F/11 using a 1/160 shutter speed and ISO 320, a diffused flash was also used. I wish I had used a wider aperture in hindsight, but pleased to get a head on mini stack :o)

I wasn't sure how to present this, I eventually thought a montage of 6 images might best convey the story.

Anyway, a few days back on a late afternoon macro session I had just packed up and was on my way home. I happened to notice these Ants on top of a fencepost, so I unpacked my camera and started taking photos of this struggle. I think these are both the same species of Yellow Meadow Ant? However, the smaller one had clamped its jaws down on the larger ones antennae and was not letting go, this was evidently driving the larger Ant crazy and it was struggling like a mad thing. So what was the reason for this? Guess we will never know, any theories welcome. Interestingly my friend Ron had captured a similar event a few days before, see here :-

www.flickr.com/photos/59604760@N04/9144406497/

I have placed the individual images in the comments.

VIEW LARGE

I found this messy eater and he was happy enough to pose for a series of shots, I would of loved a cleaner subject, but I kind of liked all the moth scales all over his face. This is also one of my deepest handheld focus stacks of a Damselfly face to date. This was a 15 image focus stack of the head at x4 magnification, taken at F/7.1, shutter speed 1/160 and ISO 200.

This chap was a reminder that the LRD season will be over soon, this one had been in the wars, it only had 3 of its wings, the 4th was shrivelled up and it was missing part of its left front leg. It looked like it was crawling about the undergrowth eating moths, but I was surprised when it eventually flew away.

VIEW LARGE

A slow meandering walk home from work today yielded a few macro subjects. This was a male Sitticus pubescens I found on my favourite stretch of Salticidae wall, I managed to persuade him to jump onto some rather interesting moss where he stayed put long enough for a 7 image focus stack, quite liked the setting for this one. Taken with the 1000D, still better than nothing :o)

The only problem with this site is it is on a main cycle route, so at that time of day I have to be careful not to get hit. They always say beware of cycle paths LOL :o)

A young Sitticus pubescens in her little hideaway in the side of a wall. As soon as I edged my camera closer she ran to this little hole and allowed me to take a series of stacks. I do like this species and they do seem to adapt their colour to their environment. The species on this wall are a sandy colour where as others I see are darker to blend in with a darker wall.

This was an 11 image focus stack with an F/7.1 aperture, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed, a diffused flash was used. This was taken about a month ago.

Zoooommmmm

Thought I'd get a few more of these in whilst they are still about, went on a 10 mile walk today, my goal was to find my first Dragonfly of the year, well I did find one, I will try and post it soon, but I liked this so much that I've put the Dragonfly on hold for now LOL :o)

Well not sure if Summer will ever return, it was wet, cold and very windy today, making macro work very tricky and really frustrating at times, the plus side was that many of these little Hymenoptera were a bit on the sluggish side, most of the Damsels were in hiding and those that were active did not want to play, also trying to do full length shots in the wind became so frustrating that I gave up, but saying that it was a good long walk and it cleared out a few cobwebs, may try an early rise tomorrow :o)

Hope you are all having a great weekend :o)

VIEW ON BLACK

About the only thing I found on my Sunday afternoon macro walk. A Dicyrtomina saundersi that was good enough to stay put for a 15 image stack. I used my MP-E on a 36mm extension tube and a 1.4x teleconverter, ISO 400, aperture F/4.5 and 1/160 shutter speed. There was some unfortunate antennae movement, but that was probably due to the gales that were blowing. The white background was down to a spare Lumiquest diffuser I had positioned behind the stick this guy was on. This individual was about 1.5mm long.

I made a great decision to go out in the rain after work, trying to balance a brolly, camera and focus on a Demoiselle in pouring rain, not a good plan.

I managed this, a two stack image of a bejewelled male Calopteryx splendens, hope you like it folks :)

VIEW LARGE

A very small solitary Bee bathing in a Dandelion, you can get an idea of how small this little one was by looking at the stamens with the pollen on them, I found lots of Bees today and not much else, despite the sun making brief appearances it was still cold for the time of year, still no Damselflies to be seen, most disappointing.

I liked this one though, reminds me of warmer times, thinking I should buy a ticket to somewhere further south, hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, I will try and upload a photo soon and not comment on the weather LOL :o)

ID thanks to Mark Johnson, Andrena chrysosceles :0)

Got Highly Commended in the 2013 BWPA :o)

VIEW ON BLACK

A very blustery and windy day yesterday and it was a most frustrating day, just seemed like every photo opportunity was not quite working, but I guess we all have our off days, usual case of not resetting ISO's or apertures or flash settings LOL.

Anyway, this is a windswept Dicyrtomina saundersi holding on tight, these guys have a very good grip, especially on damp surfaces. Right, off out now, looks a better day today :)

Dicyrtomina saundersi is one of the Globular Springtails and grows to about 2.5-3mm in length.

Class: Entognatha

Subclass: Collembola

Order: Symphypleona

Family: Dicyrtomidae

Genus: Dicyrtomina

VIEW LARGE

On Sunday afternoon I went out to try and get some better shots of Trichrysis cyanea, this time round I managed to get a partial stack of 3 images after much running around, this gives a better idea to what these beautiful little Wasps look like. I also noticed more roosting behaviour and even found 2 roosting together and also found a Ruby-tailed Wasp roosting in a small hole in the wooden fence.

These beautiful Cuckoo Wasps are about 6-8mm in length, they actively search out nests of host species which include wasps of the Trypoxylon family such as Trypoxylon attenuatum.

This was the final Weevil find on my Sunday walk, again on a fence post and was also the smallest find at about 3.5mm, managed to get a pretty decent shot at 5x with the MP-E 65mm, I hope that the ID is correct, these guys can be pretty hard to ID. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

This was another fence post find, in this case this little guy was hiding in a small chipped off hollow in the fence, there are some strange looking growths near it, I was thinking perhaps a form of Lichen. At one point a very small Springtail ran past, but the shot showed the Springtail out of focus.

Interesting website, also features Flickr photo's and two of mine are there :)

weevil.info/taxonomy/term/31986

VIEW ON BLACK

This was one of last years adult Dock Bugs that I found on grassland near my home. Last year surprisingly was the first time I have photographed this species, I initially found them at Melton Mowbray, then days later found some local colonies here in Nottingham. I look forward to finding some of the early instars in the Summer.

Not been out with the camera today, hoping to get out and about tomorrow if the weather allows me.

A Seven-spot Ladybird on a Daffodil in the early morning, as I was walking home from a morning shoot the other weekend, I noticed numerous Ladybirds sleeping on a bunch of Daffodils, I managed to position the leaf infront of a flower for the shot, taking care not to upset the sleepy head.

I'm hoping to do a few morning shoots soon, did not manage any this weekend, had my lazy head on LOL. I think I have got everything I need now, a stand to hold coloured cards, various pegs and bulldog clips, torches and multi tool.

Just need to be motivated to set the alarm clock and force myself out of bed LOL :o)

VIEW ON BLACK

A male Common Blue Damselfly from a while back. I'm missing these already, their numbers have dropped dramatically, I'm hoping to maybe get a few last stacks if I can get up early enough this weekend. I just hope that the weather on Sunday and Monday is better than previous. Failing that I guess I will be bothering Common Darters instead LOL :o)

This was a focus stack of 10 images taken on an early morning macro walk in June. At least now I don't have to get up quite as early, so I will endeavour to set my alarm clock for Sunday morning, the problem now will be trying to find a subject :o)

I was so very pleased to finally get a photograph of one of these beautiful Wasps. This is a Ruby-tailed Wasp, I think it might be Chrysis ignita, as I found it on a stone wall. The colours on these guys are so awesome. I've been wanting to photograph one for ages now. This is a single frame shot using a diffused flash :o)

Chrysis ignita, also known as the Ruby-tailed Wasp, is a species of cuckoo wasp. Cuckoo wasps are kleptoparasites – they lay their eggs in the nests of other wasp species and their young consume the eggs or larva of the host wasp for sustenance. These wasps have a number of adaptions which have evolved to equip them for their life cycle. Chrysis ignita parasitize mason bees in particular. Ruby-tailed wasps have metallic, armored bodies, and can roll up into balls to protect themselves from harm when infiltrating the nests of host bees and wasps. Unlike most other Hymenopterans, cuckoo wasps cannot sting. Chrysis ignita is found across the European continent.

VIEW LARGE

A teneral Common Blue Damselfly I found a few weekends back at Wollaton Park. This was a very shallow focus stack of just 3 images at F/8. I am hoping to get a few portraits soon, got distracted by emerging Dragonflies last weekend, but anyway I've got the whole of next week off work so should get some photography done :o)

Hope everyone has a superb weekend :o)

A very small Sitticus pubescens (Jumping Spider) having a meal of an even smaller Spider. This juvenile I found on the wall by the Nottingham Canal was about 3mm long at a guess, so this gives you some idea how big her prey was. I've no idea what species of Spider she is dining on, if anyone has an idea then let us know :o)

There were a few of these about today, I think the warm Spring weather is now encouraging things out of hiding. This was a focus stack of 12 images, using an aperture of F/7.1, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed at x3 magnification, a diffused flash was used.

The Spider being preyed on might be Oonops pulcher ????

Thanks Bugman

I was very pleased to find the UK's largest species of Ladybird, this is Anatis ocellata, the Eyed Ladybird. I found this one roaming about at Wollaton Park this afternoon, I have to say this is my favourite Ladybird species, they really are magnificent.

Anatis ocellata, commonly known as the Eyed ladybird, is a species of Ladybird in the Coccinellidae family. It has black spots on a red background, with each spot surrounded by a yellowish halo. In one color variation, a specimen found in Scotland was reported having the spots fused to form longitudinal lines. They grow to 8-9mm in length.

The species feeds on aphids such as Eucallipterus tiliae, Tuberculatus annulatus, Euceraphis betulae, Cavariella konoi, Acyrthosiphon ignotum, A. pisum, and Macrosiphoniella artemisiae. They prefer pine aphids (family Adelgidae), and are attracted to the scent of pine. The defensive alkaloid compound 2-dehydrococcinelline has been isolated and identified from this species.

This was a focus stack of 30 images using an F/6.3 aperture, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed, a diffused flash was used. There was some movement during the stack, but the DMap seemed to handle this really well and I edited using single frames :o)

VIEW LARGE OR ZOOM IN

I suppose one of the advantages of being a bit cooler today was that some subjects were a bit lethargic. I found this lovely little Bee on a fence at Wilford Claypit today. I imagine it might be an Andrena species, but I've no real idea, any help with ID appreciated. I positioned a sheet of blue foam below the fence to give this Summer like feeling.

A 6 image focus stack using an F/10 aperture, ISO 320 and a 1/160 shutter speed.

VIEW LARGE

A bit late this year with these, I saw my first back in April, but things have been against me lately, mainly the British weather, work and a tragedy with my 5D MKII. This was taken with the Canon 1000D and is a 5 image stack. I'm hoping to get a better camera soon, but not sure what yet.

I think this is an immature Ischnura elegans, but I wasn't paying much attention to the identifying features, do seem to recall it having a blue tail LOL :o)

Really been frustrating with the weather today, I gave up after finding this guy, the gusting winds were really starting to annoy :o(

ZOOOOMMMMM

Lots of this variety of Crane Fly about today, shame it was so breezy, made attempting a stack very difficult, this is just a 2 image focus stack, I would have liked to have done more, but they were wobbling all over the shop LOL :)

A pretty little Salticidae (Female Sitticus pubescens) posing so very nicely for me, they really are fabulous Spiders, love those big eyes. I have loads of these images sitting on my hard drive at the moment. I'm hoping to find some Damselflies on Sunday morning, may have to be a forced early morning wake up LOL :o)

This was an 11 image focus stack using an F/6.3 aperture, ISO 320 and a 1/160 shutter speed, a diffused flash used in manual mode. I preset the flash levels in manual by doing a test shot on a similar background, this helps keep a consistent flash level and a good refresh rate. Also this is less likely to cause any reactions with the Spider, often using ETTL the Spider reacts to the flash by jumping back.

VIEW LARGE or ZOOOOMMMM

An Ischnura elegans from the Summer, it seems a distant memory and I wish I had spent more time photographing them. I also wish I had photographed more species, I didn't get any Emerald Damselfly portraits this year, will have to try harder next year I guess.

This was a 24 image focus stack taken early one morning. I liked the colours in this one and nice details in those eyes, the Damselfly happily posed for me, then I left him to wake up properly LOL :0)

I've just been experimenting with Zerene Stacker and its editing possibilities, I had 2 Damselfly images I took earlier in the year, yes they look similar, in one the eyes are in focus and in the other the mouthparts, there is also some difference in limb positioning. So I thought I'd try to stack the 2 images, you can see the results in the comments. Using the editing facilities in Zerene I was able to bring back the image and give it new life, I used Lightroom to change the background colour and reduce the brightness of the flash reflection on the eyes. There is now good focus on the eyes and good focus on the mouthparts, I changed the background colour using the sliders in Lightroom, I had done the purple on an earlier image :o)

Oh I really think I'm going to have fun next Damselfly season, lets just hope the weather is better next year :o)

This was actually the first Damselfly I found this year, it was fairly cold and this one was resting on a leaf, I was holding the leaf and camera lens with one hand and camera body with the other, the camera was attached to a monopod for more stability, I had placed a coloured card behind held by a hobby stand.

VIEW ON BLACK

A non-native, but widespread species. Captive.

My Bugman friend, Dennis, had been given a female mantis a couple days earlier and then this particular morning he had found a male in his yard. After feeding the female another insect and after it cleaned up (see adjacent two photos), he put these two in proximity. It didn't take long for mating to begin.

San Luis Obispo Co., California

A single shot of a wonderful Female Lasioglossum Bee I found on Monday, I originally thought this could be an Osmia sp. However, looking at other images of these species online, now I'm unsure of the actual species, the eyes don't look right. Any help appreciated.

Maybe a Lasioglossum species??????

She kept landing on the stone wall of Wilford Bridge and every so often I could get a few shots, I did manage a few stacks, but for the moment I really liked this single shot. They really are one of the prettiest Bees I have found to date :o)

Likely to be a female Lasioglossom species (L. smeathmanellum), thanks to Ed Phillips. www.flickr.com/photos/50342657@N05/

I have to admit to having a soft spot for these curious creatures, this is I think Mesopsocus immunis, a species of Barkfly. I just love the way those eyes seem to be just stuck on, does remind me of a Jim Henson creation :o)

This was a 13 image head on stack of one of these curious creatures, I used an F/6.3 aperture, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed. This was on a bird observation hide at Wollaton Park.

Might try another early rise tomorrow, I will endeavour to stay out longer, this morning I was out at 4:30am and was back home by 6:30am :o)

I spent some of the afternoon photographing Salticidae and found a fair few. This is a young Sitticus pubescens exploring a patch of dry Moss at my new Salticidae location. It was really great to photograph them on a more interesting background.

This was an 8 image stack using an F/5.6 aperture, ISO 320 and a 1/125 shutter speed, taken at about 4x mag using a diffused flash.

Happy Star Wars Day everyone :o)

VIEW LARGE OR ZOOOOMMM

A small Sitticus pubescens in her Hobbit hole, she didn't move very much as it was a bit cooler outside, this allowed me to get the deepest focus stack yet of one of these beauties.

This is a 30 image focus stack using an aperture of F/7.1, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed, a diffused flash was used. It is really cool to see all those details on this little beauty, they really are gorgeous little Spiders.

Hope everyone has a great weekend :o)

VIEW LARGE OR ZOOM

An early morning Damselfly waiting for the sun, well not much chance in this country at the moment LOL. What a miserable day, yet again, supposed to be a bit better tomorrow, so hoping to get out for a bit of macro photography.

I really need to find some new subjects, so I hope to do an early rise this weekend and try and make a day of it, I'm not so overly bothered by a spot of rain, it's these high winds we seem to be getting that really throw things out, going to work on some creative backgrounds tonight, I bought some oil pastelles the other day, so will try and add some artistic license to my images :o)

I wish you all a wondrous weekend :o)

VIEW ON BLACK