Digging in the Woods

As Easter weekend appeared and the temperature still hung close to freezing point, and my frustration at not getting many macro shots in this year, I decided to go a find some micro bugs by hunting them out underground!  This involved a couple of visits to local woodlands ( High Wood – Bradbury rings and Roydon Woods in the New Forest), and disturbing the leaf litter and some old decaying logs.

The first insect I found however was a Carabid Beetle that was crawling in some moss on an old tree stump much to my suprise.   All the shots taken over the two days were taken at above life size on my MPE-65mm Canon Lens.

Carabid Beetle – Amara.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm at 3x Magnification.  ISO 200 F11 1/250.  Flash from Canon MT-24ex Twin Macro Flash.

The remaining were all “discovered” however in the leaf litter and under old logs.

Woodlouse.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm at 2x Magnification.  ISO 200 F11 1/250.  Flash from Canon MT-24ex Twin Macro Flash.

Harvestman Spider. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm at 3x Magnification.  ISO 200 F11 1/250.  Flash from Canon MT-24ex Twin Macro Flash.

Linear Springtail on leaf stem. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm at 3x Magnification.  ISO 200 F11 1/250. Flash from Canon MT-24ex Twin Macro Flash.

Linear Springtail on leaf stem. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm at 3x Magnification.  ISO 200 F11 1/250.  Flash from Canon MT-24ex Twin Macro Flash.

Linear Springtail on leaf stem. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm at 3x Magnification.  ISO 200 F11 1/250.  Flash from Canon MT-24ex Twin Macro Flash.