There has been a bit of a gap since my last blog, so a fair bit to catch up on, but I’ll start with my most recent project; frog tadpoles. Two years ago I dug a small pond in my garden with the hope that some amphibians would turn up, but I only saw one…
The Northern damselfly or Spearhead Bluet Coenagrion hastulatum is a species found only in the Highlands of Scotland in the UK, so when I was up there this March I headed to a known site for them with my pond net to see what I could find. It turned out to be pretty easy to…
A few more aquarium shots, of one of the diving beetle larvae I found last week. It was from a pond that had dried out for a few day before being refilled 3 weeks ago, but these larvae either hid in the mud or have grown fast, as they were 2cm long already! EDIT –…
Last week was my first attempt at some aquatic invertebrate photograph for a while, but I got some nice shots. This diving beetle larvae ended up posing well. Got a few close ups too
One of the stranger finds from a stream kick sample taken in the Cairngorms was this hairy cranefly Pedicia sp. larva. When you mention cranefly larvae, most people will think of the leatherjacket found under lawns eating grass roots, but there are a number of aquatic species too. The thing that surprised me about this…
When dipping the river at Bellever on Dartmoor I found a strange looking tube made of sand. I turned out to be the case of a Rheotanytarsus sp midge larva. Sadly it didnt seem to be occupied, but a new one for me anyway.
Another thing that turned up in my river sampling was this beautiful demoiselle nymph. I placed it in my photographic aquarium and managed some close ups of this alien look creature. In this photo you can see the large ‘horn’ behind the eye which distinguishes it from the related banded demoiselle. I found it among…
Today I’m off to the Launch of the Freshwater Habitats Trust, formerly known as Pond Conservation. I hope to Tweet this evening from the meeting and blog after the event, but to celebrate the launch, here are some phantom midge larva photos. I blogged some of the fascinating things about these brilliant creatures here:
Back at the end of April I went to RSPB Rainham were, almost as soon as I left the centre, I came across this Glow worm larva. I had photographed one the previous weekend, but had to use flash as it was in woodland. This one was on the path in much better (if a…
I started today by heading straight to the spot where I saw the emperors emerging, but they were no longer there and just their exuvia were left. Hopefully they got away safely. At lunchtime I managed some shots of broad bodied chasers, a female hovering between egg laying. And a perched male. Yesterday I managed…