Insects in the Autumn Garden

Although the night-time temperatures dipped to near freezing the last two days, the sun has been warm and yesterday I recorded a large number of active insects including these very small Weevils on the hollyhocks, one of which appeared to be egg laying.

Full-spectrum photography at Cambridge Botanic Gardens

Most full-spectrum digital cameras can detect some ultraviolet, all of the visible and much of the near infrared spectrum (350 nm to 1000 nm). However, the longer infrared waves are recorded the strongest and remove much of the visible light in the blue and green areas in a full spectrum photograph. Here are some examples from a day in the Cambridge Botanic Gardens yesterday. Interested how the Greenbottle's metallic colours recorded so strongly despite the background information above!. The first image, taken with a lot of green foliage overhead cutting out some of the shorter wavelengths, reminded me of trips to northern Scandinavia and the views as our small plane came into land!!

Life in Miniature in the Garden

I decided last week to do a bit of sweep netting on the cut meadow and margins to see what lives at ground level. Before I started the sweep my eye was taken by this very small Pond Olive with spectacular eyes, a relative of the Mayfly. The Leaf Hopper is a miniature version of the Common Leafhopper

Lackford Lakes at 30 Degrees

Like us the only insect life active at Lackford yesterday tended to be lurking in the shade and hence difficult to get quality photos but enjoyed the day hunting.

Garden Life Between the Showers

We had some very heavy showers yesterday but in between these the insects and spiders were active. Here a sample of what is around in the garden at the moment.