There's a patch of the plants near my driveway and it looks like they've been catapulting seeds quite a distance to cover my car so thoroughly. Maybe the hot weather helps them shoot further but it's a fascinating seed dispersal technique. I wish I had a microscope to see how the sticky thread works.
"The seed dispersal mechanism of the herb Robert, as with other members
of the genus, is rather unusual. The fruit is called a schizocarp, which
is a type of dry fruit that splits into separate single-seeded pieces
(mericarps) at maturity. In the case of herb Robert, the seed-containing
mericarps may be hurled more than five metres by a catapult mechanism.
Once released, seed-dispersal may also be aided by animals such as ants
and snails."
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I use a Sony A6000 with the Sony 30mm Macro lens. The camera is great and has some useful features for macro shots but the lens isn't ideal. The photos are good enough for forums and personal use but they wouldn't blow up to large sizes very well.
I've added another 10 new insect species to my garden list this weekend. This burnished brass moth wasn't one of them sadly but lovely to see again with its bling bling golden jacket with fur collar.
I've also finally given into temptation and ordered a moth trap. There's been tons of moths about this year and I'm sure I'm not recording half of them so I figured it was time to try something else. I worked out though that with all the ID guides I've bought, as well as this latest purchase, it has pushed my bioblitz costs up to 68p per species I hope this trap does the job now to justify the cost.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Last year I tried to hatch out some shieldbug eggs only to find they had been parasitised and I ended up with a box full of tiny wasps instead. This weekend I found a nice moth cocoon on the blackcurrant bush, put it in a bug box to see what would emerge and I've ended up with a parasitic wasp again. Here's the cocoon after hatching. You can see the hole at the top.
and this is not a moth
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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What setups do people use for their shots?