Sweden's Rarest Tiger, Pt. 4 - _TNY_2432
After three years of visiting the Mjällådalen nature reserve, 40 km / 25 miles west of Härnösand, Sweden, I finally snagged my first dune tiger beetle (Cicindela maritima)!
This is by far the rarest of the four tiger beetle species in Sweden, but Mjällådalen is the main stronghold for the species so it should be possible to find one. The 2023 and 2024 visits (five in total, I think) resulted in nothing (not counting shots of one of the other three species), but for this year, a new reserve, to the south of the old one had opened so my son and I made a day trip to the Nedre Mjällådalen reserve hoping to find it.
This species live on sand banks and sand dunes so we made our way to what looked like the largest bank in the meandering river through some really steep terrain and began searching. Initially, we couldn't find any tigers, but I instead found two species of pecock beetles before we had lunch right there on the sand. And a little while after that, Daniel spotted one!
For starters, I just wanted to secure a shot where it could be identified, but Daniel kept track of it so every time I scared it off so it flew off, he tracked it and pointed to where it landed so I could make another attempt. Extremely handy, really.
Gradually, it began letting me get closer and closer until I was perfectly happy with the resulting shots (like this one). Daniel still had higher ambitions though, so he convinced me to switch to the MP-E65mm lens and see if I could get close enough for that one. Since the working distance of that lens is just 101 mm / 4", I had low expectations - but it turned out to work just fine.
With these shots, I now have photos of three of the four tiger beetle species and the only one missing is the northern dune tiger beetle (C. hybrida) which despite it's name only appears further south in Sweden. Daniel wants us to go chase it so maybe I will.
Part 1 was also taken with the 100mm and shows the entire beetle here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54664995768/
Part 2 is a close portrait at 1.4:1 mag here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54696033632/
Part 3 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54838558321/
Sweden's Rarest Tiger, Pt. 4 - _TNY_2432
After three years of visiting the Mjällådalen nature reserve, 40 km / 25 miles west of Härnösand, Sweden, I finally snagged my first dune tiger beetle (Cicindela maritima)!
This is by far the rarest of the four tiger beetle species in Sweden, but Mjällådalen is the main stronghold for the species so it should be possible to find one. The 2023 and 2024 visits (five in total, I think) resulted in nothing (not counting shots of one of the other three species), but for this year, a new reserve, to the south of the old one had opened so my son and I made a day trip to the Nedre Mjällådalen reserve hoping to find it.
This species live on sand banks and sand dunes so we made our way to what looked like the largest bank in the meandering river through some really steep terrain and began searching. Initially, we couldn't find any tigers, but I instead found two species of pecock beetles before we had lunch right there on the sand. And a little while after that, Daniel spotted one!
For starters, I just wanted to secure a shot where it could be identified, but Daniel kept track of it so every time I scared it off so it flew off, he tracked it and pointed to where it landed so I could make another attempt. Extremely handy, really.
Gradually, it began letting me get closer and closer until I was perfectly happy with the resulting shots (like this one). Daniel still had higher ambitions though, so he convinced me to switch to the MP-E65mm lens and see if I could get close enough for that one. Since the working distance of that lens is just 101 mm / 4", I had low expectations - but it turned out to work just fine.
With these shots, I now have photos of three of the four tiger beetle species and the only one missing is the northern dune tiger beetle (C. hybrida) which despite it's name only appears further south in Sweden. Daniel wants us to go chase it so maybe I will.
Part 1 was also taken with the 100mm and shows the entire beetle here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54664995768/
Part 2 is a close portrait at 1.4:1 mag here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54696033632/
Part 3 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54838558321/