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…
A few recent shot of the pond surface dwelling Water measurer Hydrometra stagnorum. These were taken with my photographic aquarium.
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.
I’m a bit of a pond dipper, as some regular readers will have worked out, but there is one species that has always eluded me, the water stick insect. This year I saw a preserved specimen and a captive one (which I never managed to photograph), but never before had I seen a live wild…
A few months back I pond (well lake) dipped at a private nature reserve trying to get some dragonfly nymphs. I failed to find any, but did find some excellent saucer bugs, something I had only seen twice before. They are true bugs (Heteroptera), which also includes the water boatmen, pond skaters and water scorpions,…