Just a small number of photos today, from the garden pond. There's been no sign of the foxes this evening, and the day was grey. Plus I got round to installing a new graphics card in my PC. Much overdue, as the previous card (GeForce GT9600) constantly 'stopped working'. It had become so bad that it could barely handle video at all, and would even stall while browsing the web. I'd been putting it off as I'm always a little wary of opening the box and messing around. As it is, the job was incredibly straightforward and most of the time was spent waiting for the new drivers to load. The new card (Zotac 210) is so far working fine and hopefully I can just forget about it now!
Anyway, to the photos… mainly damselfly nymphs. I did see a newt, my first of the year (but it was too quick for me).
This next one isn't a nymph, but some sort of aquatic grub. No doubt it will turn into a pond beetle (or something similar) in time. If anyone (Neil?) can identify it, please do!
Finally a more 'composed' shot of a damselfly. I liked the alignment with the pond weed. A larger version is over here.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.
Ukwildlife
16 Jan 2011Nice pics.
The grub is a larva of one of the diving beetles. Also the top nymph is of a large red damselfly. The other is one of the 'blues' – common, azure or blue tailed would be likely in a garden pond 🙂
7Wellis
16 Jan 2011Beautiful pictures. I am amazed that so much life already is going on in your pond. Here it is still very cold and in our pond I could not find any larvae yet.
studio41
16 Jan 2011the last photo there has an interesting composition!
Words
16 Jan 2011Jill, thanks! My eye was initially caught by the weed. It was a bonus to have the nymph there as well.
Words
16 Jan 2011Neil, thanks for the identifications. So the 'blues' are the green nymphs, and the red is 'reddish'. Makes sense. I'll keep an eye open for when they emerge later in the year. The pond is packed with them.
Words
16 Jan 20117Wellis, I'm surprised to see so many as the pond must have been frozen solid when we had the snow. They seem to have survived very well though.
7Wellis
16 Jan 2011Originally posted by Words:
In our pond we'll also soon have blue nymphs and red ones. But I was astonished how early it is with you.
When I saw the pond plants and larvae with you, I went into my garden and discovered that here too, although until recently, the pond was frozen solid, the plants sprout already.
SittingFox
16 Jan 2011I like the composition photo too :up:
Words
16 Jan 20117Wellis, the nymphs have been there all winter. I was just anxious to see whether they had survived the cold. I needn't have worried. They're very tough! It's amazing how quickly ponds recover when the temperature increases. Good luck with your pond!
Words
16 Jan 2011Adele, thanks! Occasionally I like to show them in context, and that seemed a good shot to use.
gdare
16 Jan 2011Who would imagine that ugly insect will be beautful damselfly one day :left:
The last photo is great!
Words
16 Jan 2011Darko, I know, it's amazing how they transform. I want to try to get photos of them emerging if I can this year.
Words
16 Jan 2011More coming soon… very soon!
cakkleberrylane
16 Jan 2011It's amazing how many creatures you are able to capture from a pond!