Not too difficult here, the collembolan needs to find a more colourful fungi to lurk in.

The springtail is Vertagopus arboreus and is about 1.8mm long.

The fungi is Mollisia ligni

Raft of springtails on a small puddle on a compost bin lid

Very tiny herd of springtails under the bark of apple tree branches. Bit of a guess guess on narrowing down an ID, happy to receive any expert help!

On a concrete pot covered with moss.

Springtails on puddle. Some springtails live on water surfaces but many like these get stuck if they land on water and often drown. I do tend to rescue them if I see them - have found a credit card is best for this.

Globular springtail. Dicyrtomina saundersi

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Springtail raft of Ceratophysella sp. on a small puddle on a compost bin lid

Springtails on the compost bin rim X2

Back out hunting for bugs and came across this little chap.

Using the MP-E65 with a1.4x extender and a 25mm extension tube, also the MT24-EX flash fitted with my own custom diffusers.

As the weather was far from ideal we elected to head to Swell Woods for the smaller things.

We found lots of springtails and slime moulds when kept us out of trouble for a few hours!

www.maxthompsonphoto.co.uk

This is the smallest springtail I´ve seen. Must be 1mm or less. It was on a thin blade of grass. Very noisy as I had to crop a lot.

Photo from Preah monivong national park, Cambodia.

Globular springtail grazing on what I believe is Yellow Brain fungus

Thirsty Springtail (Dicyrtomina sp.) drinking water from dew drops

Springtail Entomobrya intermedia on water barrel lid

Globular springtail on bamboo leaf

Springtails on a leaf edge X4

Globular springtail . Focus stacked using zerene

Our garden wildlife pond is home to large numbers of these aquatic springtails (Sminthurides aquaticus) at the moment. I thought I'd resurrect my "springtail set-up" and have a go at photographing their interesting courtship behaviour.

The males have angled antennae with a few specialised setae. They interlock their antennae with a female and are then lifted off of the ground. Mature males are much smaller than females. I suspect that the female in this image is a juvenile. Both individuals <0.5mm.

Canon 5D Mk III + MP-E lens (at 5x magnification) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + MT24-EX flash.

Nikon D7100

lomo 3.7x 0.11 objective

55mm Extension Tube

f/4.5 - 1/250 - ISO 100

Dual Viltrox jy-610n II Speedlights 1/32 1/32 Yongnuo YN-24EX Macro Twin Flash 1/32

Homemade Diffuser

6 Images stacked (Handheld)

Field / Live specimen

The creeping Veronica in our rock wall is really pretty now, and after I examined the shot on the computer screen, I realized that there was a small yellow springtail (family Sminthuridae) on one of the flowers. It's a bit over a mm in size.

Dewy globular springtail

Springtail on a water barrel lid X4. Lepidocyrtus sp.

Bilobella aurantiaca (?)

Collembola froma short safari in my garden on a cold day. First time in a while looking for this guys.

Springtails scaling the north side of a slug. Focus stacked using zerene

A juvenile instar of ~0.65mm; perhaps instar 3? I'm keeping my eyes peeled for these early instar individuals, but not seeing many around at the moment.

[Part of a garden survey of the "novel" springtail Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. that I'm doing for FransJanssens@www.collembola.org to establish the size and differences between the various instars.

Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused MT24-EX Twinlite flash. Cropped.]

I went back to the walled garden at Weston Park again today, looking for the "Dark-tailed" Katiannids that I've been seeing there recently. Couldn't find any sadly. There were lots of other globular springtails there though, so here's a selection.

1. Sminthurinus aureus, possibly the reticulata form. ~0.50 mm.

2. Sminthurinus aureus, possibly the reticulata form. ~0.55 mm.

3. Sminthurinus elegans, ~0.65 mm.

4. Sminthurinus aureus, ~0.55 mm.

5. Sminthurinus aureus, ~0.65 mm.

6. Sminthurinus aureus dark form, ~0.90 mm. Is it me, or can these forms get much bigger than the "typical" yellow forms?

7. Sphaeridia pumilis, ~0.40 mm or a little less.

8. Sminthurinus elegans, ~0.75 mm.

Canon 5D Mk III + MP-E lens (at 5x magnification) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + YN24EX flash. All images heavily cropped.

Probably, unless its a pale Dicyrtomina ornata - they always confuse me.

Brown Moss, Shropshire.

Globular springtail on a fence X4. Focus stacked using zerene

High speed springtails on a fence X4. Vertagopus arboreus

Globular springtail on dustbin lid. Focus stacked using zerene

Tiny globular springtail on moss covered clay pot. Sminthurinus domesticus

Springtails in the compost bin

Another from the springtail hunt at Sheffield Botanical Gardens. This too is a "new" species for me and one of the "exotic" alien species presumed to be imported from overseas on plants.

I'm no expert on these, but I think that Eddie (Eddie The Bugman) said it was the type referred to as Katianna 3 (Genus nov.2 sp. nov.). This was underneath a scrap of wood that was painted blue. It gave a nice contrasting background to the shot.

These are tiny beasts (this individual was well under 1mm). They are challenging to photograph, but there seems to be a growing number of macro photographers willing to take on the challenge. As such, more species "new" to the UK are being discovered. A very rewarding area of interest.

This is a single shot, but Eddie The Bugman and Tim.Garlick were attempting focus stacks. Perhaps I'll have a go at that next time!

Globular springtail on water barrel. Natural light. Focus stacked using zerene. Oshiro 60mm

globular springtail on the greenhouse glass with an orange bottle top placed behind it. Turns out to be a male

springtails on the compost bin

Who can resist a blue springtail with pink babies? Except that babies are something else - see Frans's note. So much to learn...

The adults are c. 2mm long; the young passengers are c.0.4mm. I'm slightly intrigued, because one of the youngsters on the left-hand adult looks like its been impaled on a seta (hair), but I assume its just an illusion?

Thanks Frans!

Telford Town Park, under bark.

Globular springtails on the side of my large pond just near the water line. I assume they are Sminthurides aquaticus although I'm puzzled that it is only the small ones picking each other up by the antennae - I thought this was part of their courtship behaviour ?

Springtails walking on water. A slightly extreme focus stack