3 spined stickleback close up
Some close ups of a 3 spined stickleback I took last year.
Mallard and redpoll in Wat Tyler Park
On a quick walk this morning, the first one with sun for a while, I spotted this mallard on a pond. I rather liked the reflection. Another nice surprise was a few redpolls, something I had never seen in the park.
Wood ants Formic rufa
Last week on a visit to Norsey Woods in Billericay, Essex, I tracked down a wood ant nest and photographed the ants as they collected up food and nest building material. This pair were dragging a dead ant back to the nest. Others were moving small twigs and leaves to the nest. I did manage…
Water measurer Hydrometra stagnorum
A few recent shot of the pond surface dwelling Water measurer Hydrometra stagnorum. These were taken with my photographic aquarium.
Darter dragonfly nymph
A few shots of a darter dragonfly nymph (Sympetrum sp.) I took back in July with my photographic aquarium set up:
Colymbetes fuscus and Rhantus frontalis diving beetles
A few shots from July, taken with my photographic aquarium set up, of a couple of medium sized diving beetle species. First up Colymbetes fuscus. I also photographed this smaller Rhantus sp. probably Rhantus frontalis.
Backswimmer nymph and smooth newt tadpole
A couple from back in April. Thus smooth newt tadpole was fully developed so must have overwintered as a tadpole. There were also a number of small backswimmer (Notonecta) nymphs.
Hydrophilidae larva, backswimmer, pond skater and scarce emerald damselfly nymphs
A few more pond creature aquarium photography shots. First up this small (1cm) Crawling water beetle (Hydrophilidae) larva. The nymph of a backswimmer. A pond skater nymph And a close up of a scarce emerald damselfly (Lestes dryas) nymph.
Striped emperor dragonfly nymph and Water stick insect close ups
Yesterday I had a aquarium photography session. A 4mm long emperor dragonfly nymph turned up with this rather nice striped colouration. I have only seen this colouration once before, again it was an emperor, but that one was over a cm if memory serves. The one yesterday let me get one good side on shot.…
Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea dragonfly nymph
Some more photos from the aquarium set up in October, this time of a Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) dragonfly nymph.