Macro Images May 12th Paxton Pits

The light for our macro session on Tuesday at Paxton was just about ideal - bright but with some light cloud to diffuse the sunlight. As usual, the daisies were attracting lots of insects while the spindle bushes were full of Ermine Moth caterpillars walking (or hanging!) the tightrope threads. Last image - 'show a leg' was an obliging Honey Bee that lifted its leg to show the diagnostic corbicula (pollen basket) which occurs in Apini (honey bees), Bombini (bumble bees), Euglossini (orchid bees), and Meliponini (stingless bees) but not in Andrena (mining bees) etc.

What Paxton's Hobbies are Hunting

 We were pleased to find some very obliging Mayflies on the wing during our morning Macro session at Paxton Pits on Tuesday and even more delighted to witness the Hobbies hunting around the Lakes in the afternoon no doubt catching lots of these mayflies, plus damselflies, and two new species to me Grouse Wing Mystacides  longicornis (Caddis Fly) and  Cataclysta lemnata, Small China-mark, is a semi-aquatic moth species with larvae that feed on duckweed and other floating plants.

Walk to Kingston Embankment Reserve

A cool but bright day on Sunday for a walk across the field to Bourn Golf Club and then back through the Kingston Embankment Reserve. The 'yellow brick road' comes to mind - arid cracked clay and weed-killed barley doesn't have the same ring.

 

The Kingston Reserve lies on  part of the Bedford to Cambridge railway line closed in the late 1960s. It is the site of the old railway bridge removed in the mid-1970s. At this stage I was running the first YOC (junior RSPB) group and we helped with the conservation work there. We cut lots of steps down to the Bourn Brook and built dipping platforms etc but all these have grown over now; however, the old railway hut looks just about the same as it did 50 years ago!!. (phone images)

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Trumpington Meadows 9th May

 The warm weather on Saturday brought out lots of insects and spiders. I was trying to concentrate on compositions rather than just unusual species looking for interesting backgrounds and different focus/exposure settings. ID sheet at the end

Macro Session at Paxton Pits

A very enjoyable morning at Paxton on Friday wandering through the reserve taking images of what we saw, trying to choose good specimens and good angles of view. Damselflies very active now along with a good variety of spiders!! The first image is a member of the Mayfly family with the most extraordinary eyes - I think it is a Small spurwing but the ID app prefers Pond Olive though I have never seen one of that species with these protruberances, The black Hoverfly is yet to be confirmed on species as this too is new to me.