Last week I tried my new Pentax 1.4x Teleconvertor mounted on the 100mm macro with some extension tubes to see what the results were like. I tested it on a common greater water boatman or backswimmer (Notonecta glauca). These are the uncropped images, which show good detail at high magnification.
Today I popped into Bedfords Park for a break and to have look for red eyed damselflies. But what caught my attention were the many emperor dragonflies spread along the lake margin, each patrolling their territories and scrapping with each other where they crossed paths. Occasionally one would hover, and this one did at a…
The Lesser backswimmer Plea minutissima is often overlooked, being quite small (about 3mm long), resembling and often mistaken for a small nymph of the ‘greater’ backswimmer (Notonecta sp.). They are a real pain to photograph, rarely stopping long enough to find such a small creature in the frame, let a alone focus on them! I…
Here a few shots of a common backswimmer Notonecta glauca. This individual has flipped over to the right way up at the surface in preparation to fly off. I took them a couple of years ago so they are not my best shots I’ll have to blog more about these amazing insects later on.
It was a cold winter December day today in Essex. Most the insect life is dormant for winter, but under the ice in the ponds there is still plenty of activity. A sweep with the net and a caught a number of creatures: damselfly larvae, water lice, water beetles and 2 species of backswimmer, the…
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.
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.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the strange looking larva of the lesser diving beetle Acilius sp. (probably sulcatus) swimming around in a pond. I quick went and got a net and caught one, before taking it inside to photography in my aquarium set up. It is a fairly distinctive larvae with its…
More from my pond photography back in February. This time the backswimmer or greater water boatman photos. These insects are one of the true bugs (heteroptera) a group of insects characterised by their mouthparts which have fused into a proboscis. You can see it clearly in this photo. I also got a couple of new…
Here are some pond creature photos I took way back in January using my photographic aquarium. First up a nice damselfly larva. Im not 100% sure on the species but it would be either common or azure blue, or a blue tailed damselfly. I also got a number of lesser water boatman photos. I got…