What lies beneath

It is amazing what life is invisible to us as we walk about in the woods.  There are millions of things we don’t see in just a small location.  With a bit of searching around, these life forms can be observed with the naked eye, and photographed.  Just by rooting in some leaf litter, looking under old logs and branches things can be found, from the larger centipedes and slugs to the much smaller.

I spent two days over the past weekend at a local woodland, hunting around in a small area, not quite a “1m square field trip” as someone on a forum recently suggested.  As, although, I started looking in that sort of radius, some fetching of some interesting branches to the “base camp”, did take place.  Nevertheless, the total area search was not very big, just a few paces here and there.

Here are a selection of photographs, of what lies beneath…

Firstly a four image stack of a small spider with its dinner.  Images were processed in Helicon Focus 6.

I stack images in the field hand held, the idea being that stacking several images together increases the depth of field that is in focus – Even with F11 at high magnifications, the area in sharp focus is very small.

I have dinner!
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
I have dinner!

 

And a single shot of it.

Yum Fly!
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Yum Fly!

Then two stacked images of a Dicyrtomina ornata, a type of Collembola (Springtail).  To learn more about these and other small things I recommend a look up of the excellent website www.chaosofdelight.org

Both images were processed in Photoshop CC, the first is 4 combined images, the last two shots.  The first image is about 3x magnification on the Canon MPE-65mm, the later is at the maximum magnification of 5x.

Dicyrtomina ornata
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Dicyrtomina ornata
Big Globby
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Big Globby

Here are some more Globular Springtails.

Collembola on bark
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Collembola on bark

With this one firstly impersonating a horse ( that’s what sprang to my mind anyway 🙂 )

Neiiigh!
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Neiiigh!

And then smiling and waving at the camera.

Springtail Smile
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Springtail Smile

These globular Springtails, have some flatter cousins – Elongated Springtails.

On the March
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
On the March
Elongated springtail
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Elongated springtail

In this next shot, I used a bit of colour tweeking in Topaz Restyle, to make the log colours less harsh.

Springtail Restyle
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Springtail Restyle

I believe is another type of Collembola – it is very tiny, and seems to me like a small walking blue cloud.

Walking Blue Cloud
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Walking Blue Cloud

Perhaps more familiar to many is the millipede.

Mini Milipede Head
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Mini Milipede Head

This next is obviously some kind of tiny fly.  I have yet to identify it.

Wee Fly
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/9, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Wee Fly

You might assume this next is a catterpillar – well yes it is a larvae.  But it is a larvae of a biting midge!

These larvae produce a sticky, glycogen-rich substance from the hollow hairs on their backs. Each globule absorbs water from the environment before running down and coating their thin cuticle, helping to retain moisture.

The substance also acts as a fungicide and bactericide, as well as a defence against ants and other predators.

 

Forcipomyiinae larvae
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Forcipomyiinae larvae

My final subject was this tiny and colourful small weevil.

Weevil Walk
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
Weevil Walk
I be weevil
Canon EOS 760D (65mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
I be weevil

The last image is a 3 shot image – stacked in Photoshop.

I hope you enjoyed looking at some of the creatures that live beneath our feet.

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