Sometimes Green is Red - _TNY_4886
I managed three visits to the Mjällådalen nature reserve during our July trip to my mother-in-law in Härnösand, Sweden.
As on the previous two, my son joined me and proved an invaluable photography assistant and beetle herder.
My favourite find on this visit - and possibly of the entire trip - was this red morph of the green-socks peacock beetle (Elaphrus riparius). That's right, this is the very same species as this one: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53022438739/in/album-721...
This is the smallest peacock beetle in Sweden at 5-7 mm (.24") and quite variable in colour although this hue has to be considered quite extreme.
As before, Daniel turned out to be invaluable and we came up with a process where he put his hands down on the sand with his thumbs ands index fingers formed a diamond shape around the beetle so it couldn't run away and I then stuck the camera down close over it and took a shot whenever it took a little break in running around like it was on crack.
Sometimes Green is Red - _TNY_4886
I managed three visits to the Mjällådalen nature reserve during our July trip to my mother-in-law in Härnösand, Sweden.
As on the previous two, my son joined me and proved an invaluable photography assistant and beetle herder.
My favourite find on this visit - and possibly of the entire trip - was this red morph of the green-socks peacock beetle (Elaphrus riparius). That's right, this is the very same species as this one: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53022438739/in/album-721...
This is the smallest peacock beetle in Sweden at 5-7 mm (.24") and quite variable in colour although this hue has to be considered quite extreme.
As before, Daniel turned out to be invaluable and we came up with a process where he put his hands down on the sand with his thumbs ands index fingers formed a diamond shape around the beetle so it couldn't run away and I then stuck the camera down close over it and took a shot whenever it took a little break in running around like it was on crack.