Friday Flickr favourites: bug week
Post categories: Flickr favourites
|10:52 UK time, Friday, 3 September 2010
If you've enjoyed the bug films on The One Show this week you'll love this week's Flickr favourites. Although bugs can be any invertebrate from butterflies to spiders, we're focusing on true bugs (hemiptera) and beetles.
This tiny flea beetle, photographed by Edward Nurcombe, definitely fits the phrase 'cute as a bug'.
At the other end of the scale, Don Carey was lucky enough to snap the UK's largest beetle. Just to prove you don't need lots of fancy kit to photograph insects, he took this stag beetle's portrait using his mobile phone.
Ewan Pearce added his photo to the Nature UK Summerwatch group in search of an ID. We can confirm it's a corizus hyoscyami, an uncommon sighting confined to the south west of the UK.
Corizus hyoscyami © Ewan Pearce
Another colourful shot comes from RamPrasanth's close up of a humble leaf hopper.
There was no waiting around for Photospool who tells us this hawthorn shieldbug was very eager to have its photograph taken.
Hawthorn shieldbug © Photospool
Dis2w's shot shows a similar shield-shaped family resemblance while also showcasing the forest bug's vibrant markings.
Is the detail in Karen P's shot of a rosemary leaf beetle enough to change the opinion of gardeners? They might be non-native 'pests' that eat your herbs but there's no denying they're also very pretty.
Rosemary leaf beetle © Karen_P
The Nature UK team were really stunned by Paul Jones's photograph showing how just a drop of rain can spell disaster for our tiny invertebrates.
It was difficult to ID this last bug, not least because it's upside down. If you've seen something extraordinary and managed to snap it, head over to the Open University's iSpot website for an expert opinion.
Thanks once again to everyone that's been contributing their photos to the Summerwatch group. Keep adding your summer photos there but for anything taken from 1st September please use the Autumnwatch group.
Keep your photos coming in, I'll be showcasing our favourite early autumn examples next Friday.
Comment number 1.
At 22:05 3rd Sep 2010, 122abcdefghi wrote:When you see these photos, you’d think it understandable as to how,or why, pictures of beetle-bugs must have been considered important enough to be included into the high status of certain ancient pictorial writing.
Shown like this, they are so beautiful (bar the last - still beautiful but somewhat sad to see it in that predicament – seem to recall it was saved by the photographer, wasn’t it?).
Well captured moments. “Taking time to stop and stare” seems to spring to mind.
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