This is the incredible powerhouse of a Dragonfly, I loved the rich reds of an adult male Common darter. It was interesting to note that whilst photographing these, you could actually see the muscles pulsating under the exoskeleton, if anyone manages to engineer an aircraft using a Dragonflies agility and power, then flight as we know it could change.

It was also great fun creeping up on these guys to get these shots LOL :)

OK I don't often post dead stuff, but I thought this was interesting and worthy of a mention. I was out in the Country Park, trying to get a shot of a Ruddy Darter, but it would not play fair. It was just as I was giving up I noticed this fly on the grass, nothing strange there you say.

On closer inspection I realised that it was no more, a deceased fly, stone cold dead in fact. The strange thing is this is how it died, upside down and holding onto the grass for dear life (Or Death) in the position shown.

I was wondering if this was a victim of a fungal infection and the fungi has not yet gone to spore. The likely candidate could be the fungi Entomophthora muscae, but I see no evidence of the usual sporulation, but the fungi does cause the fly to climb to a highpoint and strike a similar pose to this. I mean if the fly had just died from old age, it would surely just drop to the ground. Can anyone shed any light on this mystery :o)

VIEW ON BLACK BECAUSE THE DETAILS ARE SERIOUSLY COOL :o)

Morning photography opens a new world of excitement when even a boring old fly becomes a new magical proposition, I will definitely be doing more of the getting up stupidly early in the future :)

Another view of one of the UK's gems of nature, I am so fascinated by these beautiful Wasps and often wonder if there is a reason for their stunning colouration. I'm hoping now things are set to warm up that I can hopefully get some more photographs of these beauties.

This was a single shot of a resting wasp on Wilford Bridge, I have seen them since, but they rarely stay put long enough for one shot. I would love to get a focus stack of one someday :o)

Zooooommmmmm

Another find from my trip to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens, this is Katianna nr schotti and they are the prettiest little Springtails. These guys are found in the leaf litter around the Erica shrubs (Ericaceae) that grow by the water and rock gardens. It seems this environment suits a lot of these interesting exotic Collembola, I imagine the nature of the shrub and rock garden environment provides great shelter for these beauties. I think this one was contemplating the mid-vein that was running through the leaf :o)

Well I'm not happy with the LCE sensor clean, one expects a clean sensor, when I got it back there was more dirt on it than when I took it in, very much not impressed :o(

On a positive note, I've managed to get a job with the Royal Mail (Temporary), but even better I have an interview tomorrow with JMC Aquatics for another job, which I think may be right up my street, things are looking up :o)

VIEW LARGE and EXTRAS IN COMMENTS

Thought I'd upload this as it is the first Butterfly egg I've ever photographed.

This is the egg of a Holly Blue, Celastrina argiolus, how do I know this? Easy, I saw her lay the egg. So it seems that Holly Blue's lay solitary eggs, whereas other Butterflies will lay a clutch of eggs, I guess there are advantages with this tactic, the caterpillar will not have to compete with siblings for food.

Anyway, they are such amazing and intricate structures, this was a focus stack of 6 images at x4.5 mag and very tricky as it was at head height and I was holding the plant in one hand and camera in the other, at the same time being careful not to disturb the egg. I think I will try a higher magnification stack next time as I'd love to see more, but you still get an idea of the delicate complexities of these structures, I have included a crop in the comments. There is a slight tint of green, I think this was due to position of the egg and the awkward position I had the camera in.

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We have three representative species of the genus Dicyrtomina in the UK and I thought I would try and do a comparison illustration. Of the three species Dicyrtomina ornata and Dicyrtomina saundersi are very much alike in size and for sometime they were believed by many to be the same species, they are now known to be separate species, the most obvious difference is the patterning of the pigment block on the posterior, in ornata the block is a solid rectangle and in saundersi the pattern is a more ornate. Dicyrtomina minuta tends to lack dorsal pigmentation and tends to be yellow in colour, this species also has a solid block of pigment on it's posterior.

Another thing to note with especially saundersi and ornata is that they can be variable in the amount of pigmentation and colour, I have seen very dark coloured forms and very light coloured forms :0)

Please correct me if any of the info is wrong :0)

Class: Entognatha

Subclass: Collembola

Order: Symphypleona

Family: Dicyrtomidae

Genus: Dicyrtomina

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Well every once in a while you find something quite unusual, thankfully today was one of those days. I was turning over fallen leaves when I noticed this bright orange speck and when it jumped I knew it was a Springtail. At first I thought it might be a Sphaeridia pumilis, but then I got the MP-E on the case and realised it was actually a Sminthurinus sp. I'm guessing a Sminthurinus aureus with a pigmentation aberration (Albino), it seems to be lacking in some pigmentation and this is why it is almost entirely orange, including the ocelli. It also seemed to be caught in some sort of fine web as well, it was struggling to get it removed. This guy(it is a male) was a real nightmare to focus on as well, usually the dark ocelli patch makes focusing a lot easier, also it was quite small at about 0.5mm :o)

Anyway, it certainly brightened up an otherwise dull day, I did find another unusual Collembola, but this was a definite highlight (literally), a definite you've been tangoed Collembola moment LOL :o)

VIEW LARGE and MORE IN COMMENTS :o)

Finally managed to get some macro done, however, the high winds made it next to impossible, tried photographing some Shieldbugs on a small bush and it was next to impossible.

The only easy subjects were the Darters on the fence, quite a few of these about and they were conveniently lined up on the fence for me, a few actually let me get some closeups :)

This was a view from Trent Bridge looking out towards Lady Bay Bridge with the Nottingham Forest ground on the right.

I liked this long exposure as again I got light trails from a whole load of cyclists on the left, must have been 5 or 6 riding together. Also a lovely smoke trail from that incinerator chimney.

I must try and get out for a few more evening night shoots soon :o)

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I found this male Dicyrtomina minuta on a bit of rotting wood and I believe to the right of him is a Liverwort with it's roots reaching out, I thought it made an interesting diorama, also a couple of water drops on the head of the Dicyrtomina minuta.

Any Bryophyte enthusiasts out there who can ID this Liverwort, I will be very grateful indeed.

One day I will get a shot of one of these in a jungle of miniature fungi or fruiting bodies of slime mould :o)

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I'm not 100% on ID here, this was the closest match that I could find. I was looking under fallen leaves and the underside of every leaf I found was occupied by Psocoptera instars and adults, seems to have been a sudden population explosion, no sign of any Dicyrtomina sp Collembola yet, I'm sure they will start appearing soon, I'm itching to do a high power magnification portrait of one.

Anyway, I kind of liked this colourful Barkfly instar, I liked the lemon yellow colours, I might just do a Barkfly collection this year, quite a few varieties to find.

A MUST VIEW ON BLACK

You take me up, oh hoh,

You take me up to the higher ground

You take me up so high

Now I never want to come back down

Sminthurides species (Possibly S.aquaticus) practising their courtship ritual, I say practising as the female here is a juvenile, I think that is correct, the female is on the left and the male is on the right. Anyway, in Sminthurides species the male has modified grasping antennae, they lock on to the females antennae and the female lifts them into the air, I've no idea why this is, perhaps someone will be able to explain why?

I thought this made a nice image and yes I know, more Springtails, but I was dangling my camera over water to take this, so I'm posting this for my efforts LOL :o)

Taken with the MP-E at x5 mag, hanging precariously over the River Eye, these were less than 1mm in size :o)

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A small Sminthurinus reticulatus and I think it was feeding on a bit of slime from the behemoth of a slug that it is standing next to, well I say behemoth, the slug was only about a 15mm long effort, there were a few of these next to the slug, but by the time I had positioned the lens there was only this one left. I just liked this shot as it is another shot that adds a sense of scale to these diminutive Collembola.

I'm still finding large colonies of these guys in one spot at Melton Country Park, I have strategically placed bits of wood in certain parts of this woodland area. So when I return, I can just pick up the bits of wood and take them to a near by bench and table, very handy for comfortable macro photography. There can be small colonies of up to 12 individuals on a single piece of wood.

Hope everyone has a Wonderful weekend, the weather forecast looks chilly, but bright, so planning an early morning session me thinks :o)

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Well the mystery is I don't know what species of Sminthurides this is. I found this one on the same stick as the Ceratophysella denticulata. It was found by the edge of a very soggy and muddy field.

This one was about 0.6mm long and a plainish yellow in colour with no discernable markings, there does not appear to be any segmentation of the 4th antennal segment. I have included a selection of extra images in the comments for your viewing pleasure :o) I'm pretty sure it's a Sminthurides species, as it has that look to it, the reddened ends of antennae and general appearance, this is also a female :o)

Possibly a juvenile female Sminthurides aquaticus, thanks Frans :0)

Taken with my MP-E at x5 magnification on 72mm of extension tubes using an F/7.1 aperture :o)

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An Ischnura elegans from last Summer, really looking forward to the coming Spring now.

We had a lovely Spring like day here in Notts today, saw my first Pisaura mirablis (Nursery Web Spider) and saw a Red Admiral do a flypast.

This was a 14 image focus stack using an F/8 aperture, ISO 320 and a 1/160 aperture, I used a diffused flash and coloured foam background.

Hope everyone has a great week :o)

Posing a bit of a question for Frans here, are these Caprainea marginata or juvenile Allacma fusca? These little ones were around in large numbers in the woods at Colwick Park, they were virtually on every bit of wood or bark on the woodland floor. The thing is they occur exactly where I find Allacma fusca, they do share many features with Allacma fusca, I'm just wondering if these small pink Collembola are very early instars of Allacma fusca?

They behave and move in a very similar manner as well, in the comments I have included a few extra images, the more interesting images were of a slightly larger Collembola that definitely is a young Allacma fusca, you can see it in the antennae, facial features and shiny nature of the cuticle. I know the pinker individuals don't have the shiny cuticle, but maybe that becomes obvious after later moults. I was wondering if there are any features that would definitely identify an individual as Caprainea marginata?

All images taken with MP-E on 36mm of extension tubes and the 1.4x teleconverter at an F/5.6 aperture.

Hope everyone has a cracking weekend :o)

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A pano crop of a different female Common Darter from yesterdays photo walk. This was another cooperative Darter, it's interesting that some just aren't bothered by my presence and others scarper at the slightest movement. Again this shows the classic Darter smile :o)

This was an 8 image stack, but for this one I used a diffused flash. The main issue with using flash is that the large soft box style diffusers will often scare these guys off. I've got a better chance doing a natural light stack of these guys, but then that presents its own problems, for example having the right sort of light and getting a decent shutter speed.

Well needless to say being a Bank Holiday it has rained all day. So went for a walk, but left the camera behind. So no photography today, hence another Darter offering LOL :o)

I suppose another of my favourite discoveries this year was my very first Pseudoscorpion. I used to look at pictures of these in my Natural History books as a kid, they really used to grab my imagination and for nearly 36 years I longed to find one (since I was an 8yr old).

Well this year thanks to my passion for Collembola, I eventually found my first in the Spring (26th March), a lovely Neobisium muscorum and since finding that one in March I kept on finding them and to date I have found 3 UK species(See comments for more), there are apparently 28 known species in the UK. You can clearly see the sensitive hairs on the pedipalps here, they use their pedipalps to feel their way about their environment as they have limited vision :o)

Anyway, this is a Zerene re-focus stack of a Chthonius ischnocheles I found in November (I did the original using CombineZP) and the first time I've been able to focus stack one of these. This was an 8 image stack in PMax and DMap, I used the DMap and edited using the PMax and individual frames.

If any of the ID's are incorrect then please leave a comment so I can correct my images :o)

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A 14-spot Ladybird sitting on a big old plant bud, love these little Ladybirds, cannot wait for the weekend, I'm off work for a whole week and a day, hope the weather stays like this :)

A rather attractive Deuterosminthurus pallipes, this is another new one for the Collembola list, I found loads of these at the Sensory Garden at Wollaton Hall, they come in two main colour forms and this is the rather attractive purple/red version, the other form is yellow in colour. These guys do a rather cute courtship dance, I still have to witness this, so planning a trip back to Wollaton soon.

You would not believe how fast these guys are, they were running all over the shop and this colour form seemed to be in the majority, so I'm guessing that it must be a female. I like these very much, a most attractive Springtail. I met a very nice couple also doing photography and they were fascinated when I told them about these guys and spent a fair old time talking about macro photography and watching these running about on the leaves :o)

Taken at x5 mag and cropped, these were about 1mm in length at a guess :o)

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A rather unusual view of a Common Blue Damselfly, this was taken from a lower angle and it gives this guy a somewhat alien appearance. I'm really looking forward to finding my first Damselfly this year, I'm hoping they will start emerging at the end of April, but it depends on the weather a bit, the warmer the better :o)

Anyway, this was a 15 image focus stack, ISO 320, aperture F/7.1 and a 1/160 aperture. A diffused flash was used for this one.

Hope everyone has a great week :o)

I think this shot illustrates just how small these guys are, this is Dicyrtomina minuta on the petiole of a fallen leaf, this cute little Globular Springtail was very active and was constantly on the go, this made focusing quite tricky, I like the fall off from the flash here, works well, gives a nice contrast with the petiole and the Springtail.

VIEW LARGE :)

I went to the Sensory Garden at Wollaton Hall today, I thought I'd see if I could find any more Sminthurinus aureus, so I started picking up fallen leaves, anyway I found a lovely couple of adult Sminthurinus aureus feeding on the leaf. I accidentally lost my positioning and could not believe my eyes, a pair of teeny tiny youngsters. There is a photo of a youngster with an adult in the comments to get a sense of scale, I reckon these are 0.3mm long at the best and dare I say the cutest little things in the world ever LOL :o)

I had decided to use the 1000D, 1.4x Teleconverter and MP-E at 5x magnification. Taking into account the 1.6x crop factor, this equates to 11.2x magnification, these are definitely the smallest Springtails I have found to date :o)

It is possible that the two in the main image are different species, the one on the left a juvenile Sminthurinus aureus and on the right a juvenile Katiannidae. Genus nov. species nov. These were found next to the bench at the Katiannidae. Genus nov. species nov. site :o)

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Cunning, Ruthless, and Deadly, so said Inspector Bugman on the resent spate of brutal murders. Bugman, a former Chrysalis, continued, these killings happen in broad daylight, no one is safe, and should always be on there guard.

I liked this one he was a very cheery individual, loved the smile :o)

A Common Darter looking very contented. I was also happy to get this stack of one with the head at a slight tilt. I'm really hoping the weather is better this weekend, I spent Sunday morning sitting in a local café watching drivers attempting to drive through a flooded road, great fun.

Anyway, thought I'd better upload something, kind of going through a creative lull at the moment, so apologies for lack of activity on Flickr :o)

This is a 12 image handheld field stack of Pogonognathellus longicornis, this is the largest UK Collembola species at 6mm and that does not include the antennae which are longer than the body length. I was really surprised that this one didn't flinch when I was attempting this. This one has also lost part of its left antennae, I imagine that they will partially grow back after its next moult?

This was taken at x5 on the MP-E and I could only just fit it in. They do vary in colour, I think the yellow colour here is due to partial descaling at some point. Pogonognathellus longicornis is a member of the Tomoceridae family and these Collembola are generally covered in scales, this species when fully scaled is a silvery grey colour. This one was on a bit of charred wood, for some reason I do tend to find these in good numbers on burnt wood, no idea why :o)

WORTH VIEWING LARGE FOR SCALE DETAILS :o)

A first attempt at stacking this species and possibly a last attempt, mainly because they have to be the most fidgety species. There was some movement in every frame of the stack, fortunately with editing I was able to rectify most of the problems, the antennae moved on every frame, so had to settle for OOF. These also seem to be variable in colour, I see these dull variants a lot at Wilford Claypit, but at other locations I see very green individuals, I think it may be down to diet. I am wondering if this could be the Ecovariant nigromaculatus form :0)

Anyway, this is an 8 image handheld focus stack using an F/5 aperture at about x5 magnification. I have also managed some nice textures on the skin of this beauty. If you scaled these guys up to say the size of a dog they would have a rather amazing textural quality to their skin, I guess the closest comparison would be a bit like a hexagonal (Or rhombic) chain mail, it's difficult to describe, so here's a link to some SEM's :-

www.deviantart.com/art/Springtail-Study-VIII-86478211

openi.nlm.nih.gov/detailedresult.php?img=3184130_pone.002...

www.sciencephoto.com/media/367328/view

I hope everyone has a great weekend :o)

VIEW LARGE and EXTRA IMAGES IN COMMENTS

Well I don't think I have ever seen so many Collembola in one place. These were below a window of an old ruined Church near Colwick Hall, I think they might actually have congregated for reproduction purposes, but that is pure conjecture. These were scattered about on every wall of the Church, but they were in these dense gatherings in just two places. These are most likely a Hypogastrura species, I see these on stone walls in many places at this time of year, they like to graze on the algae that grows on the stone. They also proved to be tricky as I struggled with focusing and lining the camera up parallel with the wall, next time I will try a tripod and a macro rail. They were at shoulder height and my hands holding the camera were shaking like crazy LOL

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They're back, one of my favourite Collembola species, a species that still doesn't seem to have a proper name. I had forgotten how pretty these little guys are, they are about 1-1.5mm long, the females as seen in the main are a spotty affair with lovely orange highlights on the head, the males are more orange in coloration with dark sides, the ones shown in the comments are juveniles. These are believed to be an introduced species and are associated with evergreen shrubs like Skimmia and related plants, these guys were found on the underside of the leaves, I understand that they feed on algae/fungi and I have seen them eating from pools of residue near the veins of the leaves. If you want to find these look in gardens, parks or indeed garden centres, if you have a Skimmia bush, then chances are you could have these :o)

Sorry, I've not been on Flickr much this week, my mojo has been missing LOL :o)

I wish everyone a happy weekend, remember to wrap up warm :o)

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A Seven-spot Ladybird chillin' out on a fence, when I went out this morning it was quite pleasant, within 15 minutes of arriving at my destination it was grey and overcast, big booooo to the British Summer, give us some decent weather :)

I was rooting about in my parents garden this afternoon and I kept finding these guys on bits of tuber, now a few problems with these guys is they are firstly ever so small(No bigger than 0.4mm), secondly they are pretty darn quick and thirdly as soon as they seem to be exposed to light they then run for cover. So here are a few shots of Megalothorax minimus one of the smallest Springtails in the UK. These are all pretty heavy crops and I will use a lower ISO next time :o)

I had 72mm of tubes on my MP-E for the orange individual, which I believe is likely to be an adult female. For the smaller paler individual in comments, I had 108mm of tubes on my MP-E, I think this will either be an immature female or could be a male. I have planted some bits of wood etc in the area I found these and maybe tomorrow I can get some better shots, the side on shot is one of the better shots I have managed with these, I will have my camera ready with more tubes on it LOL :o)

Extra images in comments :o)

Sorry not been on Flickr much lately, hoping to do an early morning wakeup tomorrow, might be the last chance for some Damselflies, that's if I can find any :o)

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The other weekend I found a group of juvenile 1st instar Isotomurus unifasciatus, strangely this is a species I see everywhere, but this is the first time I've actually photographed them, I photographed them on this occasion as they were so cute. These guys were about 0.5-0.7mm in length, they are a lovely translucent purple and the central dark line I think is the stomach. I know they are Isotomurus as they have macrosetae only on the last few abdominal segments. I went with unifasciatus as this was what all the nearby adults were :o)

It started snowing here this afternoon and is still snowing, I'm hoping to get an early rise and do some photography, not sure about macro, but I really should attempt some snowflake macro, I think finding macro stuff in the snow will be very difficult, so may resort to Robins etc :o)

Hope everyone has a great weekend :o)

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I think she took quite a shine to me on my walk today, a female Common Darter hugging my finger. There were plenty of Dragonflies about today, mainly Darters and Hawkers, but the Darters are my favourites.

This was a natural light focus stack of 9 images using an F/7.1 aperture, ISO 400 and a 1/100 shutter speed. I was happy with the way this one came out and it was a pleasant afternoon with my Dragonfly buddies LOL ;o)

Ok this is possibly one of the smallest things I've ever found, this is a Megalothorax minimus, it is the smallest species of Collembola in the UK, this one was about 0.25-0.3mm at a guess, I'm not sure if this is a juvenile or a male, mature males are generally smaller than mature females, also the slightly larger ones I find are orange with lovely patterning on their abdomens, see comments.

In the main image the Megalothorax is striking a typical prejump pose or is it praying to the big Canon God in the sky LOL, also it didn't actually jump. I wish I had put some extra extension tubes on, these are all fairly heavy crops, but you can still make out some details, the stomach is full and you can see it's 4 intestinal compartments. I was lucky that when I found this guy it was on a flat bit of precut wood and this allowed better focusing, focusing was very hit and miss as this one was constantly on the go. I used the MP-E at x5 on a 1.4x teleconverter and 36mm of extension tubes at an F/5.0 aperture :o)

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Dicyrtoma fusca on a frosty morning last week, I found this one before I found the really frosty Dicyrtomina saundersi on ice, this one was on a mildly frosty bit of wood, the ice crystals in the background provided some nice bokeh, I might try a wider aperture next time and see if I get more spectacular bokeh.

Not been out much today, got caught up with "Big Bang Theory" repeats LOL and just watching another double bill right now, Sheldon rocks LOL :o)

Out early tomorrow for some snow shennanigans and hopefully some crystal macro work, that's if the snow keeps up tonight and doesn't turn to rain :o)

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This here is a 9 image handheld focus stack of a tiny Aphid (Species unknown) using CombineZP, I hear you asking why CombineZP when you have just purchased Zerene?

Well it seems that when I add Kenko extension tubes to my MP-E, the resulting vignetting throws out the stack in Zerene Stacker, this is the only explanation I can find, if the image has no vignetting then the Zerene program works fine, the vignetting is caused by the Kenko extension tubes as they have not been designed for a ful frame sensor, I have included one of the stack images in comments to illustrate this. However, the stack worked fine in CombineZP, has anyone come across this issue in Zerene and if so are there any solutions?

I know I could buy other makes of extension tubes to overcome this or even use my 1.4x extender. I was wondering if there might be any Zerene settings that need adjusting? Oh and tried both PMax and DMap, DMap was a bit better, but I think the dark lines of the vignetting are confusing the program.

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Turning over a bit of old burnt wood on the ground revealed this little guy, at first sight I thought it was an Aphid, but once I got the MP-E on it I realised it was a small Leafhopper nymph, I reckon this was about 2.5mm in length and it is almost translucent, very much liked the red eye as well, no idea of what species this is, tricky things to ID at this stage of development.

Hoping to do an early rise tomorrow, was going to do one this morning, but my inconsiderate neighbour woke me at 2am, so I turned the alarm off, did get out at about 8am this morning.

Hope everyone is having a grand weekend :o)

BEST VIEWED ON BLACK

I kind of liked this, a tiny Sminthurinus aureus in the foreground and a big old Dicyrtomina saundersi grazing in bokeh in the background, I say big, the Dicyrtomina saundersi was about 2.5mm long. I did try getting an angle where both would have been in focus, but these guys as usual had other ideas LOL :o)

Not been too active lately, have really not been feeling too great, hoping to force myself out today, looks like we have blue skies this morning :o)

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Really fed up with the rain now, did try to go out and as soon as I got to my destination it started tipping it down, managed this quick shot of what I think is a juvenile Allacma fusca, I only say this because there were loads of the adults about, will go back on a dry day to try and photograph the adults. This little guy was on a plastic lid, I tapped a small stick on the lid to see what was on it and this was the result, it was placed back after the shot.

I really love the eyes on these, they are so vivid and clear, also you can see the pigmentation starting to show, adults are normally a dark shiny brown colour, but can vary in colour and have fairly long hairs over their bodies.

Turns out that after todays finds that this is more likely to be Caprainea marginata.

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A montage of shots of a Megalothorax minimus I found today. Megalothorax minimus is one of the smallest species of Collembola in the UK, this one was about 0.3-0.4mm long, they are very active little things and are a real challenge to photograph. I usually locate them with an 8x loupe, I then try and locate it with my lens, I use live view to find them and then use the Live View magnification (x5 or x10) to try and focus on them. I was using my MP-E at full extension with 72mm of extension tubes and also my 1.4x teleconverter. The image on the far right gives a bit of a size idea, they are smaller than the thickness of a leaf. These Collembola are not visible to the human eye, well definitely not mine anyway LOL.

VIEW LARGE AND IMAGES IN FIRST OF COMMENTS

I found this rather wonderful Collembola today, I'm pretty sure it's a male Sminthurus viridis, but it does appear to be a paler form with some beautiful markings, I do like Sminthurus species, they seem to have very interesting faces and their eye arrangements always seem to stand out.

The Sminthurus viridis I usually find are normally a lot greener in colour, hence the viridis part of the name, but like a lot of Collembola species there can be a few colour variations, I must say these are a firm favourite. Sminthurus viridis is considered a pest in some places as it is one of the species that eat plant matter, hence the various names Lucerne Flea and Clover Flea, they were introduced accidentally to Australia where they became a pest on Alfafa crops.

Off down to Londinium tomorrow with friends, hope everyone has a classic weekend :o)

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Hi Ho Silver, away, another take on the Azure Damselfly, needless to say I have a few stacks of this one, he was very helpful and did eventually wander off.

This is a 12 image handheld focus stack taken using an F/8 aperture, ISO 125, a 1/60 shutter speed. I think I've just realised why the specular highlights were so well controlled, I had left my camera in aperture priority and the diffused flash was on a really low setting. Oh well quite pleased with the outcome :o)

Think I might go and see the Lone Ranger movie when it comes out, I'm a big Johnny Depp fan and I think he might steal the show as Tonto :o)

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One of the new Collembola I found today, this I hope is Kalaphorura burmeisteri, this is one of the blind and springless Springtails. There were about 6 in this small group, they can be found in fairly large colonies from what I have seen on Flickr :o)

Kalaphorura burmeisteri is a distinctive species (up to 3.1 mm in length) found under fallen branches and among leaf litter. It is often recorded during the winter months and is active under snow.

The anal spines are prominent, there is a vestigial furca consisting of two small bumps and the post-antennal organ consists of two rows of elongate vesicles. The empodium of the foot is expanded at the base and there are two pseudocelli near the base of each antenna.

More in comments :o)

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Well this is what rainy, cold weather does to you, I finally took the plunge, so goodbye CombineZP and hello Zerene Stacker, yes in a fit of frustration I finally purchased the license for Zerene, am I happy, you bet,! Zerene does seem to handle things a lot bettter and the editing features are there as well, brilliant.

So this is a 7 image focus stack of an Allacma fusca I found a few months ago, CombineZP could not hack it, but Zerene, no problems. This was a very rushed stack, I will spend more time on the editing with the next image :0) Oh I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this :o)

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A man walks down the street

He says why am I soft in the middle now

Why am I soft in the middle

The rest of my life is so hard

I need a photo-opportunity

I want a shot at redemption

Don't want to end up a cartoon

In a cartoon graveyard

Bonedigger Bonedigger

Dogs in the moonlight

Far away my well-lit door

Mr. Beerbelly Beerbelly

Get these mutts away from me

You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore

If you'll be my bodyguard

I can be your long lost pal

I can call you Betty

And Betty when you call me

You can call me Al

This is my big buddy Al (Allacma fusca), I found this one on a bit of fallen wood today and it must be the biggest Globular Springtail I have found to date, easily 4-5mm. I thought I'd show you a side on shot of one of these bad boys. Just a disclaimer, there is a very good chance that Al is a lady LOL :o)

Also have had this song in my head for a few days now, all I remember is Chevy Chase and Paul Simon in the video, I actually have the video on my iPad now, was feeling all nostalgic. Still a great song :o)

Happy Weekend to you all :o)

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Learning each others name was looking to be a long drawn out task, Stan and Kyle were looking for Wally, but it dawned on them it was going to take a while to find him :)

Araneus diadematus

I found this teeny tiny ickle one on the underside of a fallen leaf, I think this is a Sminthurinus reticulatus judging by the vertical stripes on the abdominal region. These seem to be appearing in larger numbers now, as the leaves start falling then more Collembola start appearing, they like to feed on the fungi and algae found on decaying leaves, these guys seem to favour the fresher fallen leaves.

In the comments I have included some size comparisons, these were all taken at the same magnification, I have cropped the images, but still retain the same full length of the image. I had 112mm of extension tubes on the MP-E at x5 extension at an F/6.3 aperture.

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Another shot from Mondays afternoon by the water, this is a pair of courting Sminthurides nr. penicillifer, the female on the left is a sub-adult, so I think this may actually be a practice run. It is interesting that you can see the position of the 3 bothriotricha on the abdomina of the female and male (bothriotricha are pitted sensory hairs). I wish there was a way of adding notes to images again.

For this shot I used my MP-E on 72mm of extension tubes and also a 1.4x teleconverter, I used an aperture of F/4.5, so I was quite pleased with the focus on this one. The female here was about 0.8mm long and the male was about 0.5mm long.

notes on image viewable if you change language

Images in comments :o)

Well what a dire day, just saw this from the patio window, it was on the wall surrounding the patio, so nipped outside, quick series of stacking images and back in and onto the laptop, not too bad for 30 mins work.

Dicranopalpus ramosus this is a very distinctive Harvestman, often seen spread out on walls, first seen in the UK in the 1950's and moving northwards, originated from the Mediterranean, so right at home in the UK LOL :)

This is a stack of 9 images at about x3 on the MP-E :)

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Have a great weekend everybody :)

Nothing to do with the above, but you really should watch this :)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEgSlRarcC8