It's Behind You - Spiders at Lakenheath

Although not as plentiful as previous autumns, there were plenty of different spiders and harvestmen at Lakenheath on Wednesday - this wren was hunting for food in the undergrowth but somehow missed this one or perhaps it is not a palatable food item. Despite searching widely, I haven't located any literature on which species of spiders are or are not eaten by birds. Possible species ID: Harvestman Leiobunum rotundum, Araneus marmoreus, Araneus quadratus, Pisaurus mirabilis. (For next year's ID help - Ruddy Darter (black legs), Common Darter (striped legs))

September Dragonflies at Paxton

Saturday was our monthly Dragonfly and Butterfly survey at Paxton - it was sunny but quite chilly so we were not expecting a large number of records.There were lots of Common Darter and Willow Emeralds, Speckled Wood and Small and Large Whites. 

Autumn Macro at Lark Rise Farm

Lark Rise Farm (Cambridgeshire) is definitely looking quite autumnal now with soft brown seed heads and grasses. So beautiful how the Common Darter female blended into its thistle perch, and the pattern created in the seed heads of the Sow Thistle, Carrot and Knapweed. Otherwise plenty of different flies around and a couple of Wasp Spiders now more than 5 cm across including the legs.

 

Common Darter: Playing with Light and Lenses

As a prelude to today's RPS Macro day at Paxton, I have processed the images taken at Shuttleworth 10 days ago in very bright sunlight. Different apertures produce very different specular highlights in the background (image 3-f14; image 4 F22). I tried using a wide angle (c24 mm full-frame equiv.)  to get the darter in its environment (images 5 and 6). The last image is  an infrared - renders the darter like glass.

Nature's Art

Common Darter on Blackberry - couldn't have chosen the colours and shapes better if I was doing a  painting of it.