Welcome to my blog

I am an exclusive photographer with istockphoto and produce a wide variety of images. Recently I have been experimenting with high magnification photography of insects, plants and anything else I find that looks interesting up close.

I am a first year undergraduate studying Biology at the University of Oxford. I have a particular interset in entomology and enjoy exploring the huge diversity of insect species in the UK.

I aim to use this blog to share some of the photos I have been taking which I find particularly interesting, I try to do a little bit of research on the subjects of my photos but am far from an expert. if I have made any big errors or misidentified something, please leave a comment or send me an email to correct me .

My Istock portfolio: View My Portfolio
My Getty portfolio

Sunday 25 April 2010

Scarlet lily beetle

The scarlet lily beetle is a major pest and cause lots of damage to lilies, they eat the leaves, buds, stem and flowers. These beetles were once confined to the South-East corner of the UK but in recent years they have been spreading Northwards. When alarmed the scarlet lily beetle makes a high pitched sqeaking noise to deter predators.

Image shot with a reversed 50mm f/2.8 EL-Nikkor on bellows.
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Lilioceris liliia

Sunday 11 April 2010

Cuckoo bee

This is the cuckoo bee Nomada goodeniana, they are described as cuckoo bees because the females lay there eggs in the nests of ground nesting bees, Andrena. The hatched larvae eat the pollen provisioned by the Andrena adults and emerge in the Spring. The practice of stealing food from another species is called cleptoparasitism, there are many wasp and bee species which feed their young in this way.

Photobucket

Nomada goodeniana

Photobucket

Nomada goodeniana
 
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