High Wood macro shots
I decided to take along another macro lens, the Zuiko Olympus 135mm Macro F4.5, in addition to the Zuiko Olympus 80mm macro F4, on the latest visit to High Wood (High Wood is right next to Badbury Rings by the way). The prime purpose to test this lens out on the Olympus OM-D EM-5 DSLR with the OM flash system, following the recent success with the 80mm lens. This proved a good decision for a completely different reason explained later on in the post.
Found several different insects to photograph on the walk up the path from the car park to High Wood.
A Beefly (Bombylius major) which I shot head on for a different view to the norm.
A Drinker Moth caterpillar (Euthrix potatoria)
and a Nursery web spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
The choice of venue also proved to be a great decision with the spotting of this Oil Beetle (Meloe proscarabaeus), a type I had not seen before, within High Wood itself. These do have an interesting lifecyle “the female oil beetle lays thousands of eggs into holes in the ground, and these hatch into larvae which sit around on flowers waiting to jump on board a passing bee. They then get a lift back to the bees nest where they feed on the bee larvae.” This is a direct quote from UK Safari web site.
This second shot has slightly different head angle, and not so tight framing on the antennae.
A little bit later on came across several different types of insects in a short distance of each other.
A Common crab spider (Xysticus cristatus)
A Leucozona lucorum Hoverfly
This Bluebottle Fly (Calliphora).
and a Mesembrina meridiana Housefly
A little later and the completely different reason why it was a good decision to bring along the Zuiko Olympus 135mm Macro F4.5 lens was the discovery of a pair of Green-veined Whites (Pieris napi) mating on blue bells. This lens enabled me to get both in frame, something that would not have been possible with the Zuiko Olympus 80mm macro F4 lens.
All of these are using natural light instead of flash. I will have to conduct a more extensive test with flash another time.
The one disappointed with the picture of the mating pair is my failure to spot the grass stem in the foreground, and I did not shoot from an alternative position before they separated.
On the other hand they remained on the bluebells for some time after separation allowing the opportunity to get decent individual shots of the male & female.
The male, both landscape & portrait style
Olympus OM-D EM-5 DSLR & Zuiko Olympus 135mm Macro F4.5 lens at F5.6.
The female
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