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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

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  1. Paul Iddon

    My first jumping spider & Bumblebee of 2022

    They are finally back! Joyous! Paul.
  2. Paul Iddon

    Noctuidae

    Not sure which - but it will be a night flyer... Found it on the stem of a rose, and it moved onto a rose hip. Paul.
  3. Paul Iddon

    First dronefly in the garden this year

    Eristalis pertinax male. (As far as I can determine!) He was warming up in the sunshine on a laurel leaf and quite happily stepped onto my thumb for a few poses. Paul.
  4. Paul Iddon

    Ground beetle larva

    Look at the jaws on this bad boy! (Ground beetle larva I think). Paul.
  5. Paul Iddon

    Small creatures

    Here is fine specimen of the amazing centipede (great subjects, but I dislike them a little... urgghhh)... And in a small pool of water, you can see several species of water loving creatures: the corpse of a waterhog louse (Asellus aquaticus), a flatworm (Polycellis nigra - an invertebrate of...
  6. Paul Iddon

    Newts

    These photographs were taken in a controlled conservation area (I am registered with an organisation/charity as a volunteer). I should point out about the great crested newt: Due to enormous declines in range and abundance in the last century, the great crested newt is strictly protected by...
  7. Paul Iddon

    Still more globbies on the bin

    A few more appearing now - all very young and incredibly small, but I can't get a sharper set than these cos I can't focus fast enough on a 1 to 2mm critter! Paul.
  8. Paul Iddon

    3 tonight

    Three from tonight around 11pm... A woodlouse, a flat-backed millipede, and a fly. Paul.
  9. Paul Iddon

    Just an aphid and a 1mm springtail...

    In comparison the aphid is gigantic! Probably the smallest springy I've managed to get a shot of. It's either a be a very juvenile of the Gen / sp nov bunch in Katiannidae, or possibly Bourletiella hortensis or Bourletiella viridescens though I'm leaning toward the former. Paul.
  10. Paul Iddon

    Nice surprise

    In the first fortnight of February, i got a nice surprise when I went hunting around the garden looking for springtails (found one, hard to get though as usual...) Anyway, I was instead delighted to discover a bonus visitor - which I assume, as it was on the door of the recycling bin, that it...
  11. Paul Iddon

    Dicyrtomina saundersi

    If anyone else were to have gone outdoors today in England you'd know how windy and cold it is. I went into the garden to put the food scraps into the recycle bin in a shirt and cardigan when I spotted this springtail. Took some pics, but it was too cold and windy to hold the camera steadily, so...
  12. Paul Iddon

    Another midnight excursion

    It was 5°c outside but it felt closer to zero as the after-midnight air was whipped up by a more than modest wind... Meant only a short hunt in the darkness, and 3 subjects found. First a midge (or garden gnat) sheltering underneath the fence lateral bar keeping out of the wind as best it...
  13. Paul Iddon

    Cold out, so shoot indoors...

    I'll put what each one is at the bottom of the thread, so you can play at "guess what this is?" if you want to do... Dull, cold damp dreary day in winter so nothing found outside, so these were all taken in the house. #1 & #2 Car light bulb #3 & #4 Coffee granules and...
  14. Paul Iddon

    A frozen morning - but even in the cold, something stirs

    So cold this morning the frost and ice was everywhere in the shadows, but in the weak morning sun, new life grows... Paul.
  15. Paul Iddon

    A little mix

    Look under stones and even around the garden bins, and you can find plenty of interesting insect life... I think an Eupodidae (one of the Trombidiformes) starts us off, but not the best photo sadly, because it wouldn't stay still and was barely the size of a pin head... Spiders (Amaurobius...
  16. Paul Iddon

    Dicyrtomina saundersi

    Dicyrtomina saundersi - on the recycling bin lid tonight - very cold and damp in the garden, but nice to find a globular springtail - I've seen too few so far recently... About 2mm in size. Paul.
  17. Paul Iddon

    Moist fly

    So I spotted this fly on the fence - first shot was just a look-see, and then I tried to get a bit more interest out of it. Not sure if the last one worked out well enough - I had nudged the flash out of position trying to get close and the light wasn't quite right, but I've included it anyway...
  18. Paul Iddon

    January caterpillar

    Found this walking across the path at the front of my house today. There is only mosses there, so not on a food plant. I assume it has somehow been disturbed. It is an Angle shades caterpillar, which can be egg, larva, pupa and Imago throughout the year. Paul.
  19. Paul Iddon

    Its chucking it down, but still...

    Today, spotted this Camera-wetticus flashsoaked-ii globby on the fence 😅 It was (is still) bucketing down and I couldn't manage any better than these in the conditions... It’s Dicyrtomina saundersi... Paul.
  20. Paul Iddon

    Xmas week insects

    There are still some Christmas Week spiders (and ladybirds & flies) still out and about as midnight approaches.... Here they are on the garden fence.... Paul.
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