I'll start today's entry with a duckling photographed at lunchtime. It's an ordinary duckling, nothing special, but I like the way the light reflects on the water.
I also took some macros of the local insect life, which is now abundant. Summer photography is really quite different from the other seasons. Short lenses, great light (though it can be too harsh), and a myriad of strange and wonderful creatures to find.
Red soldier beetle
Oedemera nobilis beetle
Hover fly
The real spectacle came at the end of the day. This shot really doesn't do it justice. Flying ants took to the air in their annual mating swarm. Easy pickings for the gulls which could scarcely stop gorging themselves. I'm sure many other predators were taking their fill. 
Flying ant swarm
As ever, with flying ants some were still at ground level. There were so many it was easy to pick and choose which to photograph. And mine have wings 😉
And just for a bit of humour, check out the ant photo from London's Metro newspaper and the laziest caption ever!
Camera note: ant swarm and duckling taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The macros were all taken with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.
CedarFox
20 Jul 2010Great pictures :up:
LOL @ the ant caption! They should've asked you for a picture of an ant with wings! 😀
gdare
20 Jul 2010😆 Someone was too lazy to find an ant with wings :doh:
Red soldier beetle and Oedemera nobilis beetle look the same to me except the colour :left:
pollyfoofoo
20 Jul 2010i always enjoy looking at your photos. thank you for sharing the lovely nature adventures with us.
Dudley
20 Jul 2010Putting that new macro lens to good use :up:
SittingFox
20 Jul 2010I think the London smog is getting to the creativity of the Metro writers :right: (Although, on another point, they did publish an apology today over the inaccurate fox population claims.)
But those are wonderful pictures. So much of summer is taking in the fine detail. Looking forward to seeing more!
Words
21 Jul 2010Jennifer thanks!
Words
21 Jul 2010Adele, oh good that they published an apology about the foxes, and congrats to you for pursuing it. I'm sure to have more insect photos over the next few weeks…
Words
21 Jul 2010Erwin, thanks!
Words
21 Jul 2010Darko, if you look closely the oedemera (the green one) has bulbous legs (which means it's a male, by the way!). Soldier beetles don't have those 😉
Words
21 Jul 2010Eric, thanks! That really was a poor piece of picture research. I wonder how often they do things like that.
Words
21 Jul 2010Andy, yes I can see I'll use the lens a lot (especially at this time of year).
Vulpes vulpes
22 Jul 2010Really lovely! :up:
Words
22 Jul 2010Thanks Vulpes!
Ukwildlife
5 Aug 2010Great set
Words
5 Aug 2010Neil :cheers:
Flying Red Fox Blog
11 Sep 2010I remember those swarm of ants, had fun keeping them out of the kitchen at workies lol! 😛
Flying Red Fox Blog
11 Sep 2010I think you can tell if its a good Summer by the increased amount of insects like ants and wasps.
Words
11 Sep 2010If only… lots of insects this year, but I wouldn't say we've had a great summer. Mind you, not as many wasps as usual in the garden, so maybe the theory is right.
Words
11 Sep 2010Mark, wow you're tracing back through some old posts. The ants were great… really spectacular this year.
Wulpen
19 Oct 2012Great Pict :up:
anonymous
2 Jun 2013ERWIN writes:
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anonymous
2 Jun 2013MSnowGolem writes:
ive seen:GnatsTermitesAntsWaspsBeesAndHornets
anonymous
2 Jun 2013SomeOne writes:
NoPlz
Lezzgo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anonymous
2 Jun 2013TylerMunch writes:
i look everywhere for ant piles!http://my.opera.com/Words/blog/2010/07/19/one-duckling-a-swarm-of-ants-and-some-macros?cid=108633692#
anonymous
2 Jun 2013Anonymous writes:
i have a ant pile in my backyard
and theres Winged Ants
anonymous
2 Jun 2013junior writes:
no Anoymous!!