More Small Invertebrates

Pruning the Buddleias yesterday took a very long time as each branch needed to be beaten to dislodge any insects etc, some of which I photographed and most of which were minute like this exquisite Leafhopper and the Rough Woodlouse. The Spider and Centipede were dislodged from our low brick wall while tidying the ivy - wonderful brick coloration!

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.