Well another day and another Springtail photo session. Today I was messing about with backgrounds, I purchased a sheet of coloured foam which had loads of different colours, kind of like when you mixed all the coloured plasticine together as a kid.

Needless to say I found a few Dicyrtomina saundersi on my walk, so I set about a focus stack or two. This one was a 24 image handheld focus stack at x7 mag using an aperture of F/5, ISO 320 and a 1/125 shutter speed. I thought the colours were rather groovy here, also loved the symmetrical feel of the subject :o)

Was a really nice day out, a bit cold and amazed how quickly the light went, will have to get up earlier tomorrow :o)

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In the same vein as the head-on-a-stick WIP heads, but this one actually stands without a stick!

Fun with the Praetorian guard head, which seems more usable than other ultrabuild heads thus far. It's all solidly connected there!

Maybe one day I'll build a body for this. Some sort of Zoidberg-like alien type perhaps...

I visited a small ornamental pond near Nottingham University to photograph Sminthurides aquaticus the other day, there were plenty of Sminthurides antics going off, I thought this was some interesting behaviour to capture.

Usually the males link up antennae with females of equal or larger size as part of their courtship, but here the male has linked its antennae with a much smaller female and it looks like it was struggling to unlock its antennae, it did result in some brief role reversal, where the male is lifting the female and not the other way round. Anyway, it was fascinating watching this Sminthurides aquaticus behaviour.

The males reach 0.5mm in length, this makes the small females about 0.3-0.4mm long at a guess :o)

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These were a real nightmare to photograph, this is the Rhododendron Leafhopper, these are actually an American species where it is known as the Scarlet and Green Leafhopper, it is thought they were introduced to Europe in the early 1900's. This species feeds on the sap of the Rhododendron Bush and it is one of the few insects that feeds on this plant.

These are very active and have the habit of flying away at the slightest disturbance, but I did find that once they start feeding then they are a bit more approachable. I managed a 5 image stack at F/11, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed. They really are a gorgeous splash of colour :o)

One from a while back, I found this Allacma fusca in woodland and happily went about doing a handheld focus stack, this one was 12 images with my MP-E on my 1.4x teleconverter at F/5.6. It was only when I was editing the image that I noticed something on the right hand side of its head, just below the antennae. I think it is likely to be some sort of Mite, I think I can make out legs and a head end. I don't know if it is parasitic by nature or whether it is phoretic, phoretic basically means that it is using the host as a means of transportation to another area, basically hitching a lift.

Extra images in first of comments :o)

Allacma fusca is a large dark brown species of Globular Springtail reaching up to 3.5mm in length, it is widespread and common thoughout the UK, it is often found near the ground surface of moist habitats, I mainly find these on fallen branches, sticks and bark in mixed woodland, sometimes in large numbers, they are generally slow moving and are often completely still :o)

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great weekend and are bracing themselves for the heavy rain that is forecast tonight :o)

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Them wild-eyed boys that had been away :o)

Yes the boys are back in town, I had a feeling that today was going to be the day, my first Large Red Damselfly experience of 2014 occurred when this guy flew straight past me and landed bang in the middle of a Spiders web, not a great start to a new life. So I had to rescue him, I placed him on a nearby Daisy and he allowed me to get a few shots after a bit of a clean up operation, I later placed him on a safe out of the way perch.

Anyway, I had a bit of a disaster as an essential bracket screw was missing from my flash bracket, in the end I had to handhold my flash in position, not easy. Then there was the really annoying breeze that added to my frustrations. Eventually I got things under control and this is an 18 image handheld focus stack using an F/7.1 aperture, ISO 400 and a 1/160 shutter speed. Next time I hope to be better prepared, but at least they are back, I also saw another 2 flying around a bit later on.

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Two Sminthurinus species type Collembola meet in the dark, more experimentation with Collembola and flash fall off.

I've not been out with the camera today, it has been a ghastly day here in Nottingham, I did go into town for a Latte and a wander around.

Now I've got to inspire myself in to producing some form of Halloween offering, I will see what I can come up with, I don't know if I will be able to top last years effort, but we will see :o)

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As I mentioned yesterday there were other Bees landing on the fence at Wilford Claypit. So I thought I'd upload an image of one. I'm now thinking this is Megachile willughbiella, but I'm really not sure, they were about twice the size of the male Osmia I found.

I also mentioned that focus stacking Bees was tricksy, well this was a 14 image stack at F/10, the resulting PMax image was awful, so I worked with the DMap and edited with single frames, there was a lot of head and body movement. I was amazed by the size of the jaws on this one, I have a head on stack I may upload later.

Sorry Folks, after the information kindly supplied to me by 'Biosphere' and 'Eddie the Bugman' on my previous photo (Araneus Diadematus (a.k.a. Rocky) I just had to crop it to get a closer look at this boy's Palps.

And there they are!

Absolutely fascinating.

Girls you don't know how lucky you are!

(www.janimaki.net)

This was another Fly I found early one morning, I am really hoping the weather will settle down a bit and allow me to do an early morning macro session.

I've no idea what species of fly this is, I can only guess at some sort of Muscidae, best thing about early morning shoots is when you find your first subject is covered in dew, dew is not always guaranteed and is always an added bonus when it comes to macro work.

IF POSSIBLE VIEW THIS FULL SIZE FOR DEW DROP DETAILS :o)

Sorry I have not been on here much over the past few days, no excuses, I will try and catch up as soon as I can, I have loads of stuff I want to upload and have been busy finding more very small Globular Springtails.

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WoooHoooo looks like the cold snap has gone and here comes the SUMMER, I am sure that by the end of the week I will be in Damselfly Nirvana :O)

Anyway, this was a rather ambitious focus stack of a female Salticus scenicus having a light snack, I cannot believe she managed to stay still for this and I did a few other stacks as well. I had to crop this quite a bit as the bottom end of the fly didn't work, but I think this crop looks OK.

I do have another in the pipeline, may upload later this week :o)

Was not online much yesterday, having a few connection difficulties, modern technology !!!!!

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Going back a few weeks I was at my new fave Darter site, there is an observation deck going out into a pond and this is my new friend, he kept landing infront of me and looking at me, he definitely was not camera shy, I really love Common Darters, possibly the happiest Dragons going :)

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Really pleased to find this new one, I've only ever found one species of Tortoise Beetle before, so to find this almost golden beauty was a real bonus. Cassida flaveola or the Pale Tortoise Beetle is associated with host plants from the Caryophyllaceae family, but this one was found on the wire mesh that holds the rocks in place around part of the lake at Wollaton Park, thought it made an interesting setting. This is a 9 image focus stack at F/8. I was actually looking for signs of Damselfly emergence, but not a thing to be found, I really hope I don't have to wait until the middle of May like last year.

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I found this little Neanura muscorum under some rotting bark, I was immediately intrigued by this individual as it appeared to be covered in white specks, it wasn't until I got home that I realised that they were Nematodes (roundworms), I am interested to find out if these are parasites of this Springtail or if it is just that these roundworms are hitching a ride.

There were other Neanura muscorum under the bark, but this was the only one covered with these Nematodes, just thought it made an interesting subject. Neanura muscorum is typically up to 3mm in length :o)

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Calliphora vomitoria chowing down on some yummy bird pooh. Liked this shot because it's the best one I've done to date that shows its feeding apparatus :)

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A rather attractive Sitticus pubescens enjoying the sun, one thing I know is that these guys love the warmth, they seem to prefer the darker bricks on the wall by the Nottingham Canal, perfect camouflage for them and a great hunting territory, they being the ambush masters of the Salticidae world, they seem to just sit and wait for their prey.

This is a two image stack, quite happy that I managed a stack with this species, they do seem to adopt this particular looking down pose, where Salticus scenicus often looks straight ahead when resting.

Also in the comments, the swarm of Bees on the side of our house yesterday, I think they are establishing a nest, much to the annoyance of my Landlord :o)

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Finally made it out and used my camera, I found this wonderful Caprainea marginata on a fallen leaf, I find these Collembola fascinating and this species seems very cooperative and will happily stay put and even when they do decide to take a stroll they are fairly slow. It was really nice to photograph one on some greenery, it really adds a welcome splash of colour. It appears that they darken as they mature, this one I think is a fairly mature individual at about 1.4mm in length :o)

At least the weather behaved today, although very gusty at times, I saw my first Ducklings and Goslings today, may just post a few images over the next few days.

Hope everyone has a great week

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A rather nice little Sminthurinus species I found on a bit of wood on one of my Collembola hunts. This one lead me a merry dance, it took ages to find with my lens and kept disappearing and reappearing, eventually I managed to keep it in my sight.

I think I have the ID right as Sminthurinus aureus f. ochropus, but I have noticed that on the Collembola.org website that there is another similar colour form called Sminthurinus aureus var. atrata, I was wondering what would distinguish this form Sminthurinus aureus f. ochropus from Sminthurinus aureus var. atrata?

This one was very active and didn't stop to pose, so I was tracking and snapping the best I could. This was taken at x7 magnification, the main image is cropped, this one was about 0.8mm in length and was just visible, but being dark in colour it was very easy to loose track of it against a background of a similar colour.

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This lovely Commomn Blue Damselfly was ever so excited to meet me yesterday morning, I found him by a stretch of the local canal, quite chuffed as I only have a 10 minute walk to find these, the stretch of the canal had been barriered off for most of the Spring, this was due to some rather inconsiderate Swans nesting on the canal path LOL, they did have some rather lovely cygnets with them yesterday morning, so I guess I can forgive them :o)

Anyone noticed loads of their images dropping off Explore, some strange stuff going on and on Scout images are being duplicated for some reason ?????

Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful weather, supposed to be better tomorrow, so I'm off Dragon hunting along the Grantham canal between Plungar and Redmile, hoping to see Hairy Dragonflies, Four-spotted Chasers and maybe an Emperor or two, also will get some Variable Damselflies if I'm lucky. Hope everyone has a great Weekend :o)

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Early morning Lestes sponsa(female), these are tricky to get face on due to the way they rest, they usually rest on reeds, grasses etc and tend to rest as shown in the image above, so I tried to get the best angle I could and I used some green foam to fill in as a background.

Deuterosminthurus pallipes or possibly bourletiella arvalis(???)

I think I may be pushing the limits of my macro setup with this one. This guy was tiny; I've never noticed them before, but knew exactly what it was as soon as I saw it. Check out Eddie the Bugman's amazing set of these little creatures. These things are so cute!

Had a bit of a Damsel day today, they were everywhere at Wollaton Park, this chap was on top of an exuviae, the background supplied by Mastercard :)

An Azure Damselfly, not sure if he was trying to hide or just seeing what on earth was going on. Took this one on a fine Summer day in 2013, a focus stack of 9 images using an F/8 aperture, ISO 125 and a 1/60 shutter speed. This was handheld, used a diffused flash, the background was courtesy of a fabric blue flower supported on a hobby stand.

I just loved the pseudopupil effect on this guy, makes for good eye contact.

In the compound eye of invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans, the pseudopupil appears as a dark spot which moves across the eye as the animal is rotated. This occurs because the ommatidia that one observes "head-on" (along their optical axes) absorb the incident light, while those to one side reflect it. The pseudopupil therefore reveals which ommatidia are aligned with the axis along which the observer is viewing.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

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A portrait of an Allacma fusca, it will be another couple of months before I start seeing these emerging, locally the juveniles start appearing in April. Allacma fusca is one of the largest of the UK Sminthurinae and possibly one of the largest UK Symphypleona, they grow to about 3.5mm in length. Nice view of the PAO-setae in this one.

This was a 15 image handheld focus stack using an F/5 aperture, ISO 200 and a 1/125 shutter speed, using a diffused flash at x7 magnification.

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One thing for sure the food supply for Trypetoptera punctulata is abundant at the moment, this is also known as the Snail-eating Fly, it is one of the Marsh Flies of the family Sciomyzidae, this is the first time I have found this particular species and what a striking fly it is, they move very slowly and deliberately, really love those beautiful mottled wings :o)

What Wiki says:-

Marsh flies are generally slender, yellowish or brownish, about 0.5–1 cm (0.25-0.5 in) long. They have fairly prominent eyes, prominent forward-pointing antennae, and bristles on the hind femora (upper hind leg). The wings are often mottled with various light brown markings according to species.

Marsh flies are common along the edges of ponds and rivers, and in marshy areas. The adults drink dew and nectar. The larvae prey on or become parasites of Gastropoda (slugs and snails). Very little is known about the complete life cycle of these flies.

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A Cream Spot Ladybird doing what they do best, it's strange but I don't recall seeing these last year and now they are popping up everywhere, excellent little Ladybirds these :)

A selection of images of Sminthurinus elegans f. ornata and Sminthurinus elegans. If there is a central dorsal lateral line it is elegans, if this dorsal lateral line is missing then it is elegans f. ornata.

These were taken a while back, have not been out with the camera for a number of days, just hoping for a decent spell. Will the weather ever settle in this country :o(

Thought I'd share my current Collembola list, there are one or 2 possibles and a few unidentified species, I have also listed a few colour forms here as well, also there are some very common species I see that I've yet to photograph, so theoretically I could increase the list quite easily :o)

PODUROMORPHA

Hypogastrura sp 1(unid)

Hypogastrura sp 2(unid)

Podura aquatica

Ceratophysella denticulata

Brachystomella parvula

Monobella grassei

Neanura muscorum

Protaphorura armata

Kalaphorura burmeisteri

ENTOMOBRYOMORPHA

Hemisotoma thermophila

Vertagopus arboreus

Isotoma viridis

Entomobrya nicoleti

Entomobrya albocincta

Entomobrya nivalis

Entomobrya intermedia

Tomocerus minor

Pogonognathellus longicornis

Orchesella cincta

Orchesella villosa

Lepidocyrtus curvicollis

NEELIPLEONA

Megalothorax minimus

Neelus murinus

SYMPHYPLEONA

Bourletiella hortensis

Bourletiella arvalis

Deuterosminthurus bicinctus

Deuterosminthurus bicinctus var. puncteola

Deuterosminthurus pallipes

Deuterosminthurus pallipes f. repanda

Heterosminthurus insignis

Allacma fusca

Caprainea marginata

Sminthurus viridis

Katiannidae. Genus nov. species nov.

Sminthurinus igniceps

Sminthurinus aureus

Sminthurinus aureus f. ochropus

Sminthurinus reticulatus

Sminthurinus niger

Sminthurinus elegans

Sminthurinus elegans f. ornata

Dicyrtomina saundersi

Dicyrtomina ornata

Dicyrtomina minuta

Dicyrtoma fusca

Calvatomina rufescens

Calvatomina nr superba

Ptenothrix atra (possible)

Sminthurides malmgreni

Sminthurides aquaticus

Sminthurides schoetti

Sminthurides schoetti var. ornata

Sminthurides signatus

Stenacidia violacea

Sphaeridia pumilis

Nearly there, Odonata season is nearly upon us, on the BDS site the first Large Red Damselfly of the season has been recorded, it was from an indoor tank, but still good to hear. So I'm hoping to get my first shots in the next month or so :o)

www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/content/latest-sightings

This was a focus stack of an Ischnura elegans from last year, they have such great colours. A 16 image focus stack, ISO 320, F/8 aperture and a 1/160 shutter speed, a diffused flash was used.

Hoping to get out with the camera tomorrow, seems ages since I last used my camera. Happy Easter to everyone :o)

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Revisiting a few unused stacks on the run up to Christmas, I've not been out with the camera much lately, been blowing a gale all day here in Notts.

This was a very curious Common Darter at Wilford Claypit here in Nottingham. This one had perched on the edge of the wooden barrier that surrounds the observation decking and allowed me to take some close images, I liked the angle of this one.

I found a few of these little beauties in local woodland, they are nymph stages of Campyloneura virgula, a common predatory bug of the Miridae family. According to the British Bug Website the males are very rare and has lead to the thinking that the species might be parthenogenetic. I kind of like the go faster stripes on these little guys and they are fast LOL :o)

Really tricky doing macro in woodland, I'm struggling to get enough light for focusing, besides the obvious use of LED torches, can anyone suggest any other ideas to illuminate the situation :o)

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Well this was a turn up for the books, this little beauty landed next to me and was not at all bothered when I went to take this shot, thought this was an interesting angle for a shot :)

Uncropped image

A small Bug sitting on top of a fence post, this guy was so engrossed with catching a few rays, it didn't even flinch as my camera came ever closer.

This was taken at x5 magnification with the MP-E and was handheld at height. I'm not too sure what species this is as I could not get an ID shot, but I am sure it is fairly common, so if anyone recognises it please leave a note :o)

Thanks to Davvvid ...buggin for ID Birch Catkin Bug, Kleidocerys resedae

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I was really pleased to finally witness one of the wonders of the macro world, this is my first capture of the Deuterosminthurus pallipes courtship dance, these little guys were on top of my favourite white bench at Wollaton Park (The only white bench as well).

On the left is a female and she is courting with a smaller male on the right, also there is another male trying to butt in on the action. It really was a mad scene to watch, they were everywhere, there were yellow ones, purple ones and these reddish ones, I have included an extra image in the comments, but I have loads, really tricky to photograph these, a DOF nightmare, they are fast and the top of the bench is curved, also I always hate photographing stuff on a gloss white background. I think I will try some video footage next time, I will set up a tripod over the bench and see if I can get any decent footage, it is great to watch.

Sorry not been on Flickr much, still a poor internet connection and this heat is getting a bit much :o)

Taken with the MP-E at x5, the female was just under 1mm at a guess.

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OK possibly the last one in the series for the Azure Damselfly on a blue background, hopefully I will be photographing new ones in the near future, seems a long wait still and it still hasn't warmed up that much here in the UK.

This was a handheld focus stack of just 6 images, ISO 125, F/8 aperture and a 1/60 shutter speed, a diffused flash was used.

Really happy to get another Ladybird image used on the BBC - Earth website:-

www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150316-emerging-ladybirds-eat-a...

Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone :o)

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Thought I'd have a go at Mondays Bench theme, not done this before, it was just when I was out for a walk on Sunday and I thought it would be something different to try.

This was taken just as it was getting dark and I saw an opportunity to get some nice bokeh lights in the background, the main building in the background is the County Hall in West Bridgford.

All that remains to be said is HBM everybody :)

A Common Blue Damselfly (No surprises there) on one of my early morning photo walks, this one is nearly fully matured, there is some evidence of it's teneral colouration. I liked the look on this beauties face :)

Hope you all have a wonderful week :)

A Salticus scenicus ( ♀ ) hunting on the pink walls by the side of the Nottingham Canal. Not sure why the walls are painted pink in patches, probably to cover up the graffiti. Anyway, this was a last ditch attempt to get some macro done after my Monday walk, you can always find these on this wall.

This was a single frame image shot at F/10 using a diffused flash, I was going to try for a stack, but this little lady had other ideas. I quite liked the sideways glance, she was probably looking at my hand here LOL oOOo

This to my delight was my other exotic new find from Sheffield Botanical Gardens, I found these guys in exactly the same place as I found the Genus nov.2 sp. nov, initially I was unsure of the differences, I believe the abdominal setae are different, also these have an orange vertical marking between the ocelli patches. This one was on a leaf. you can see the middle rib/vein of the leaf behind this little one :o)

So as with the others, this species seems to like the beds of Ericas and were found on fallen leaves in and around the Ericas. It could be that when the Botanical Gardens were set up that these guys were introduced on certain imported indoor plants and over the years they have migrated outdoors and adapted to live on and around other plants or maybe they were introduced on imported outdoor plants, it is thought this species is another foreign import :o)

I have to say that this is one of the prettiest Collembola I have found to date. There is another species called Katianna nr. australis which is unique to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens, I will have to try and find this species next time I visit :o)

Hope you all have a great weekend and stay warm, looks like another cold one :o(

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A close up crop of the Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. from the first image. Less than 1mm in length :o)

14 image focus stack.

As the temperatures rose this afternoon, then so did the passion, it was all happening on my parents garden refuse bin, I found quite a few of these Deuterosminthurus pallipes doing their courtship dance on the top of the bin, I imagine that they had been swept up with the garden waste and had escaped to the top of the bin. In the main image you can see the purple female courting with the yellow male, in this species the male and female can be either yellow or purple and sometimes there are a few slight colour variations, it was nice to photograph them on another coloured surface.

Also I'm still awake, went back to the park this afternoon, but did not photograph much as the sun had brought people out in their droves, it was too noisy for me, definitely prefer it at 4am LOL :o)

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This was a real treat to see this butterfly up close, this was the same Comma Butterfly I found on yesterdays walk. So presented with such a rare opportunity I decided to attempt a series of focus stacks and I was really chuffed to bits with the results of this one, this was just a 7 image stack at x3 magnification at f/6.3, cropped image using CombineZP. I have included some close up crops in the comments :)

Remember this is a handheld focus stack of a live and wild subject, this was resting on a fence :)

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Found lurking in my lawn (Ipswich, VC25 East Suffolk, TM166450) on 18 July 2015. ID based on britishbugs.org.uk "K. tricornis is recognised by the entirely black antennae which have long hairs" and confirmed by top British Bugman Joe Botting!

A Bourletiella hortensis on a small stone using its eversible tubelike vesicle from the collophore as a grooming system. Collembola have what is known as a collophore, this structure on the ventral side of the Collembola can produce 2 eversed vesicles, one on each side. The main functions of these is osmoregulation, water intake, and excretion. However, they can also be used to help in grooming, they can use these tube like structures to clean areas they can't reach with their feet, another use for these tubes is a self righting system, if they land upside down they can use these vesicles to self right, I also have seen these eversed pre jump in certain species, I imagine this is to aid them when they land.

Also note in this image that there is a cleaning droplet in place on the front foot, I wonder if they use their legs to help guide these vesicles in the required direction.

I would just like to say that I will be staying on Flickr, they have made a few improvements on last weeks initial revamp, at least now I can see up to 20 comments below an image, I just wish I could control what is being displayed on my homepage, also would like to see my sets displayed on my photo stream in a more pleasing fashion. Currently my sets look a real jumbled mess. Also really struggling with the speed of this new revamp, lots of white screens and Bad, Bad Pandas as well :o)

Of out early tomorrow, hope everyone has a great Sunday :o)

Extra image in first of comments :o)

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No I'm not going to do the lyrics to the song from the "Hans Christian Andersen" film, not seen that film since I was a kid, sorry. I found this little fella on a wooden fence today, I'm not sure on the species, but it is probably one of the Geometer Moth caterpillars, so I guess that narrows things down a bit.

This is what Wiki says :-

The name "Geometridae" ultimately derives from Latin geometra from Greek γεωμέτρης ("geometer, earth-measurer"). This refers to the means of locomotion of the larvae or caterpillars, which lack the prolegs of other Lepidopteran caterpillars in the middle portion of the body, with only two or three pairs at each end. Equipped with appendages at both ends of the body, a caterpillar will clasp with its front legs and draw up the hind end, then clasp with the hind end (prolegs) and reach out for a new front attachment - creating the impression that it is measuring its journey. The caterpillars are accordingly called loopers, spanworms, or inchworms after their characteristic looping gait. The cabbage looper is not an inchworm, but a caterpillar of a different family. In many species of geometer moths, the inchworms are about 25 mm (1.0 in) long. They tend to be green, grey, or brownish and hide from predators by fading into the background or resembling twigs. Many inchworms, when disturbed, stand erect and motionless on the prolegs, increasing the resemblance. Some have humps or filaments. They are seldom hairy or gregarious and are generally smooth. Typically they eat leaves. However, some eat lichen, flowers or pollen. Some, such as the Hawaiian species of the genus Eupithecia, are even carnivorous. Certain destructive inchworms are called cankerworms.

Anyway, thought it was something interesting, it was a tricky one as every time I got close it would stop and wave its head about in the air, hope everyone has a great weekend, watching "Avengers Assemble" again for the 12th time, HULK SMASH !!!!!!!!! LOL :o)

If you really really want to hear the song :o)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXi3bjKowJU

But don't blame me if you get the song stuck in your head LOL :o)

A MUST TO VIEW ON BLACK

The more I look at the intricacies of a flies anatomy the more amazed I am, precision engineered sensory apparatus and amazing wing assembly, love those halteres :)

I don't know, one warm afternoon and these guys were at it like rabbits, the Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers were very active indeed today and I was ever so pleased when this pair of luvved up Common Darters settled on an almost isolated grass stem, usually they land on a path or on brambles, but today they actually landed somewhere half decent. Even better is they didn't seem to mind my presence, usually they fly off as soon as I get near.

I used my Tamron 180mm macro for this and that gave a nice working distance, I was also using a monopod for a bit of stability. I was tempted to flip the image, but that might give a slight gravity defying feel to the image, so I kept the original orientation.

I will try and catch up over the coming days, just felt like cutting down on computer time for the last few days this week :o)

VIEW LARGE because new Flickr doesn't seem to favour portrait orientation images, unless you are using a tablet and then everything looks great LOL :o)

It's that time of year when I'm seeing the first images of Damselflies appearing on Flickr, but I'm still waiting to see my first of the year. Well I've got the day off on Friday and I'm hoping that will be the day to find them.

This image was an Ischnura elegans from last year. A focus stack of 17 images, ISO 320, aperture F/7.1 and a 1/160 shutter speed with a diffused flash. I think this guy was a very mature individual judging by his somewhat worn mouth parts :o)

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its been persisting it down all day,,no new pics , this is one from a couple of weeks ago at fairburn..dont think its a jumping spider even though it has the same domed head and eyes..this was about 4 times bigger than the normal jumpers and it ran away rather than jumped every time the shutter clicked, and he kept coming back to the same spot after a few mins hiding.

edit..thanks to Eddie the bugman..now ID'd as a wolf spider .

A view of the Trent the other week when it was close to bursting its banks. Fortunately the water levels dropped quite quickly after that day. I liked the effect the fast flow of the river gave with the reflections on this 20sec exposure, almost like ice, I have added a similar shot in the comments to give you an idea what the normal river level is like and shows the reflections when the river is running at its normal slower pace :0)

I'm hoping for a few frosty mornings this weekend so I can get out and attempt a few more frosty Collembola stacks, I really must try to get some way of automating a stack in the field, I may have to look at getting the Cognisys Stackshot kit :o)

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