Almost ready, wings fully pumped and now firming up :)

I have put these in a set so you can watch it as a slide show :)

Another in my series of Harvestman stacks, this is Paroligolophus agrestis one of the commonest Harvestmen in Nottinghamshire, I liked the pattern and colours on the abdomen, this is a stack of 10 images, I took this at a lower magnification this time as I wanted to get all of the abdomen :0)

This individual was on the same piece of wood as the Darkling Beetle, the Darkling Beetle decided to go walkabout, so I turned my attention to this static Opilione :0) View very large to see the Mites :0)

Thanks Roy for pointing out that the little white things infront of the Harvestman are actually Mites, wish I'd done a full mag on one of them :0)

VIEW ON BLACK

I found this cute little Bee balanced on a leaf, I think he was sleeping, he did actually wake up and fly off, I would appreciate any ID help as I am totally rubbish at Bee ID, this one was incredibly small (1cm-2cm maybe more).

One of my favourites has returned, Calopteryx splendens, last year they started appearing May 18th, so a good 20 days earlier than last year, I'm sure I saw one earlier in the week, but that was at a distance.

So a big welcome back to an old favourite :) This is a natural light shot as well :)

Well found out today what Red Spider Mites eat, it appears they eat even smaller mites :)

I found this rather large and clumsy Weevil, still have to get an ID for this guy. This is an uncropped image, as you can see I could not fit him in, I wish I'd got the lighting a bit better, but I do like the textures on his thorax and head :)

Found lots of these on my early morning walk, actually found two types and this was the smaller species of the two, not exactly sure of ID here, it is possibly a Muscidae (Female), curious flies these and quite approachable for some reason :)

A Common Froghopper looking down at me, always like to get a different POV on an insect, I have always liked the faces of these guys, they have very interesting features :)

Found this dew covered fly this morning, I think it is a Tachnid of sorts, focusing was an issue as the light was still poor, thought it made an interesting subject, it is probably coming towards the end of its time judging by the state of its wings, definitely seen some air time :)

Think I've got an ID now Eriothrix rufomaculata, please correct if wrong :)

Barrels are from the old Warahmmer character 'Gui' and the old Warhammer Giant. I filled in the 'Bugmans XXX' on the label and painted 'Sartosa Bumbo'. Bumbo was the pirate equivilant to rum.

If you like my painting please take some time to go and join my new Facebook page:

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I have no Idea what this unusual looking insect is. I hope that Eddie the bugman or Pauline Smith can help me out here. Sorry about the soft focus, the bug was constantly moving and just out of reach climbing the trunk of a tree.

He was about 1" long.

Theses are the first globular springtails I've knowingly ever seen, let alone photographed. They are also the smallest things I've ever attempted to 'tog, being about 1mm long. These shots are (un)comfortably beyond 1:1, being taken with a Raynox DCR250 & 45-175 zoom lens at the full 175mm. Discovered this one walking around on my shed door-handle.

If you want to see how this is done properly, check out these two photostreams: www.flickr.com/photos/odonataman/

and www.flickr.com/photos/50342657@N05/

Thanks to Eddie the Bugman for ID!

My first Cardinal Beetle of the year, this species is Pyrochroa serraticornis, there is another variety with a black head. This is an uncropped image, I just liked the composition as it stands :)

Hope you like this one, I managed a stack of this male Banded Demoiselle, the stack has worked reasonably well, about 5 images, there are some nice eye details here :)

VIEW LARGE

A female Red-eyed Damselfly ascending on a stick, I think next time I try this shot I will go for an uber shallow DOF, also want to try this shot again, but on vegetation :)

There was an accident on the corner by my work just as there is every week.

static.flickr.com/39/79180750_650b2cdee2_m.jpg

static.flickr.com/39/79180749_f89bf9a08d_m.jpg

This is my Minotaur. All metallic parts are painted non-metallic metal. It was also the first time I painted shadow in the recesses of the skin by blending Imperial Primer to Bugman's Glow. It has ventured upon a Bretonnian farmland and is being shot at. I hope you like it, all comments are welcome!

I don't normally go back and rework minis, but I put a little extra time into his beard to make it pop a little more.

I found some more new Globular Springtails today, I think these are Dicyrtomina ornata, the main ID feature of these is a solid block of pigment on the rear, whereas D.saundersi has a distinctive pattern, the other possibility is D.minuta, but that I think is more yellow and has a dark area on the behind, I did notice that the setae on the posterior of this individual looked rather short, but not sure if that is normal for this species :)

I was wondering if there is a possibility of hybridisation within the Dicyrtomina species?

2.5mm long taken at x5 with the MP-E

Flickr and internet connections on a real go slow Arrrgggghhhhhhh :)

After what seems like a very long wait I finally have all my initial collection together so here it is , I forgot to capture the Velbon macro slider but have that too.

I want to say a big thank you to Nexus49 & Eddie The Bugman for your help and advice over the past few months , without it I would have been totally lost.

I now need to learn how to use this little lot , so I expect alot of bad shots and frustration , but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end.... If I can pluck up to courage to use it that is.

Im now officially broke so any food donations / clothes / spare change would be gratefully appreciated :-)

This is another the hiding shots, many Damselflies will automatically hide behind the grass stem or twig they are on if something comes into sight, quite amusing to observe, especially with large numbers of Blue Tailed Damselflies in Reed beds :)

Had a few hours this aftenoon with my Damsel buddies, we played hide and seek and they were very good at hiding from my lens :)

I thought I wouldn't find much, but I was surprised to find a few wind blown individuals hiding out, not sure what species this one was, a recently emerged individual :)

Another day another Damsel, this one was very animated indeed and was very excited about having her photo taken :)

All Photos © Jason Jerde - All Rights Reserved

Please do not copy, distribute or use my photos in any way, without consent.

These guys were everywhere in my parents garden last weekend, not easy to approach, most ran as soon as I got anywhere near :)

This week is killing me, working afternoon shifts on the hottest week of the year, I should be outside taking photo's and not in a stuffy factory building, no fair :(

As I'm sure many of you in Nottingham are aware, last night was Light Night in the city, and having missed the event two years running I was keen to investigate. I met up with fellow Flickr Friend Eddie The Bugman for a strole around the city centre and had a great evening (if not a touch on the cold side). We spent much of our time up at the Castle, and then moved down in to Market Sqaure.

It was really nice to be able to get such a high vantage point at night over the city from the Castle. I wish the castle would open later more often as you could do so much from up here.

Found this guy (A Forest Bug) on a fence post and decided to do a stack, only managed 5 images and then the batteries died on my bloomin flash, anyway this was the result, really liked the detail on the eye, reckon we will have a good week for bugs, so I'm going on an uploading spree LOL :)

[Explored] Many thanks for identification to to Bugman Eddie, the expert's expert!

Taken with Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS lens and 20mm extension tube and MR14EX Macro Lite.

Another experimental tone mapping, seems that this process can produce some nice textural effects and does seem to highlight the contours and shapes of structures like the eyes, I think I will carry on with regular macro for now and maybe occasionally try a bit of HDR style effects, I think this Autumn and Winter will be involving a lot of HDR landscapes, long exposure shots and Winter wildlife, I've still got a heap of stuff in the archives for a rainy day :)

The progress of this aquarium

Full tank photo on 2016_07_14

Found lots of these today, not 100% on species yet, but think they are of the Chrysolina persuasion, love those metallic greens :)

Chrysolina varians feeding on St Johns Wort :)

Extra images

Miniatura en metal de Citadel, adaptada con un estandarte del batallón de enanos de la montaña solitaria.

Propylea quattuordecimpunctata posing on a leaf vein, scoured my parents garden for one of these, better known as the 14-spot Ladybird :)

special edition Josef Bugman

Photo by Jay Adan

Stenacidia violacea are a member of the family Sminthurididae and all members of this family have a distinctive courtship ritual. The males of this family have specially modified antennae and these are used to grasp the females antennae, the female will then carry the male around for sometime, the male will eventually break free and deposit spermatophores around the female, the female will then pick up one of the spermatophores.

I found an area of ground near Colwick Park that looked a good Stenacidia habitat, I find they like damp areas of ground with gravel/stone, mud and moss. I was lucky enough to find lots of these guys, the males of this species are actually quite large, in most other Sminthurididae the males are a lot smaller than the females, the males of this species are also very distinctive, they are very colourful and have elaborate setae arrangements on their hind legs and also on their abdomens. Anyway, I eventually found a few courting pairs and got a selection of images which I have compiled in the first of comments.

These guys were all about 0.8mm to 1mm in length, I used my MP-E at full magnification on my 1.4x teleconverter, I used an F/6.3 aperture, DOF is really tricky with these courting pairs, I would love to try a focus stack, but they move too much :o)

Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend :o)

VIEW LARGE and EXTRA IMAGES IN THE FIRST OF COMMENTS

Found another one of these stunning Beetles, I found this on my after work bughunt, they are real stunners, love 'em, I love morning shifts a whole afternoon to find bugs :)

The Common Leaf Weevil found on the railings of a bridge, I'm finding Weevils everywhere now, great little beetles. Love those shiny scales, really are stunning.

This is an uncropped image, hope you like it :)

NECA TMNT Cartoon (Turtles In Disguise) Raphael

This is a little bug I found while crashing through the forrest looking for a backdrop shot for a project I am working on, by this point I had driven 150 miles, crawled through about 2 miles of forrest over grown with vines and weeds and spiders and snakes and all kinds of other schtuff.

But, the little bug here cheered me up.

Go bug man!

I even made up a song for him that I sung while crawling through the jungle.

Ha! But I ain't gonna sing it for you cause then I would feel silly.

Great little bug guy :)

That's not its scientific name, but I haven't been able to ID this one...

I found four of them inside a dried reed stem on the banks of the river. It would have made quite a nice image, all huddled together like that but, of course, as I had disturbed them they decided to go off exploring, each heading in a different direction.

This is the smallest shield bug I have come across and looks to be a full grown adult (it has the classic shield shape) or at least a late instar so I don't imagine they grow much larger than this.

Anyway, if anyone can help identify I would be most grateful. More images in the comments below.

Edit: Looks to be Eysarcoris ventralis or White- Spotted Bug. Eddie The Bugman to the rescue!

Single image @ ~1X Magnification - to indicate scale, that's the tip of my thumb.

I managed a crafty stack on this guy who managed to stay put just long enough, I think a recent downpour helped matters :)

I think this was about 5 images using CombineZP :)

I will probably bee corrected on ID LOL, my Bee ID skills are not the greatest,I think it is Apis mellifera, but could also possibly be an Andrena look alike. Anyway, it was cold when I took this shot and this one was very sluggish to say the least :)

Managed to get a shot of a rather preoccupied Black Ant on a flower bud, there was some sort of fluid maybe nectar oozing from these buds, fortunately meant this Ant stayed still for long enough :)

While out snapping birds I came across some small ponds with these guys shooting around so tried to get some shots. It was pretty windy so trying to get a stack wasn´t easy, I did manage to get 4 shots which could be put together.

Thanks to Eddie the Bugman for the ID.

My macro set

Thanks for viewing my photos, comments and criticisms are much appreciated.

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Equipment

Nikon D7000 @ 1/200 sec

Nikkor 105 f/2.8 @ f/8.0

ISO: 250

Kenko 36+20+13 mm extension tube

AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E II

Natural light

Stacked in Zerene Stacker and edited in Lightroom 4

This little teneral Damselfly visited me twice on Sunday, he posed briefly for me once, flew off and 10 minutes later flew back and landed on my trousers, I know it was the same one due to his deformed antennae :)

ID thanks to Wildlife on the Go Bugman and Ashley Wood. :-)

Another view of the Ground Beetle I found at my parents last weekend, I'm off out to make the most of the weather, I have a clean camera sensor and hope to find some real treats :)

Happy St Georges Day, no Dragons, but there may be Damsels LOL