Last week I was in Arne, Dorset to photograph these amazing spiders. I always liked how they varied some much in size and colour. I photographed them using my field studio at the side of the pond where they can be found.
Raft spiders
British Wildlife Photography Awards - Highly Commended
The results have just been announced for 2014 British Wildlife Photography Awards. I was fortunate to receive a Highly Commended for my image of a raft spider.
Category: Hidden Britain
Title: Guardian in the Grass
Canon 1DX | 24mm | 1/100sec | f11| Off-camera flash
Home Grown Wildlife
Its amazing how much wildlife you can encourage into your garden just by letting it grow naturally. Up until a few years ago we used to mow this paddock several times a year. Today many would see it as field of weeds but to me its a wildlife haven. I included the barn in the image below, as it is also an important part of the habitat. Lots of insects and spiders benefit from the red brick walls that warm up in the sun throughout the day. Some of my best findings have been discovered around the edge of the building making it an important area of my study.
The area of study: Paddock
Various species of arachnids living in the paddock
In order to encourage particular wildlife, I laid down six chip board panels amongst the grass. The panels provide a whole host of wildlife with shelter and in some cases a home. The boards warm up nicely in the sun which the snakes particularly benefit from.
A litter of bank voles in a nest under one of the panels
Within a week of putting down the panels, I had mice, voles, shrews and grass snakes living underneath them. Over the course of the summer I have lost count of the number of nesting voles that I have encountered under the boards.
The population of bank voles in the paddock is booming. Everywhere I look I find new nests. If you just sit and listen your can hear squeaking and rustling coming from within the long grass.
Amazingly, bank voles become sexually mature at just five weeks old. Female bank voles can produce up to four or five litters a year which explains the numbers found within my paddock.
I have been documenting the bank voles with the aid of my field studio to create ‘Meet Your Neighbours’ style images.
The setup
The results
To be continued…
Costa Rica
A few weeks ago I was standing in the the very hot and humid rainforest of Coast Rica. It was a totally new environment to me and along with a vast array of bizarre and highly fascinating subjects surrounding me, it was overwhelming to say the least. Sometimes it was just nice to stand back and admire it all without my camera.
Being under the dense canopy of the rainforests, meant that light was the biggest issue for photography. But foreknowing this I bought a small soft box for my speedlite (Lastolite Ezybox), which turned out to be one of the best investments I have made during my time as a photographer - it’s small compact and weighs very little, so perfect for traveling where size and weight always matter.
I spent most of my time exploring during late evening when the wildlife just seems to go into a league of its own. So armed with a 100mm macro lens and a single speedlite (soft box attached) I went in search of creatures of the night.
I came across this Red-thighed Wandering Spider that was just meters from my room where I was staying. Every night it would appear and lay in the same position, waiting for its prey to walk on past.
I can honestly say that I have never seen a spider move so fast. It grabbed a beetle that strolled by with such speed and accuracy that my eyes barely registered it. It was definatly one of the best finds of the trip.
Red-thighed Wandering Spider
Everywhere you go in Costa Rica you will see the red eyed tree frog being exploited on post cards, t-shirts and gifts etc.
If you listen carefully you can identify this particular frog from others, as they call to each other in the dark. After looking on-top and the undersides of every leaf I eventually found one. They really do live up to their reputation of being one of the most photogenic species.
Another frog that I came across was the gladiator frog.
A lot of the wildlife in Costa Rica is designed to blend into its surrounding environment, making it hard to find unless you know where to look. You defenatly need to spend a lot of time there to really reveal the hidden world.
These bats were found inside a termite mound that was seven feet up in a tree. A hole had been bored about twenty centimetres into the mound from the underside - it proved to be the perfect resting place for this colony of bats. (species to be confirmed)
Tropical Screech-Owl
Hanging flower found in the cloud rainforest (species to be confirmed)
Three-toed sloth
Crested guan
Hummingbird (species to be confirmed)
Howler monkey
Swarm of tiny black bees (species to be confirmed))
After spending just over ten days in Costa Rica, I merely even scraped the surface of what can be found. It contains some the most diverse wildlife on the planet, making it a must see place.
If possible go for as long as you can. As it takes a while to get used to the humidity (in parts).
Exploring with your eyes is one thing but when taking a lot of camera gear, I would say it was quite challenging work at times (especially when there is so much to see and photograph). But this gets easier once you acclimatise.
High resolution images can be viewed with the following link:-
The patience of a raft spider
I cant seem to get enough of these amazing spiders. They pose perfectly allowing you to set up and compose your shot. I rarely come across a creature that will rest motionless allowing you to use slow shutter speeds to enable optimal apertures at a low ISO on a dull day.
Shutter speed - 1/16 sec
Aperture - f11
ISO 400
Tripod
Spiders Galor on the Arne Peninsula
I have recently just spent several days at one of my favourite places in Dorset which is the Arne Peninsula. Arne at this time of year is awash with spider activity. Their webs cover the landscape creating a real spectacle that I highly recommend going to see. I have edited a few images in the short time that I have back home before heading to Cornwall to attend my graduation. I will post more images when I am back, but in the meantime here are a few of my favourites.
Four-spot orb weaver Araneus quadratus
Wasp spider Argiope bruennichi
Raft spider protecting young Dolomedes fimbriatus
Raft spider protecting young Dolomedes fimbriatus
Garden spider Araneus diadematus
High resolution images can be viewed with the following link:-