Sap-sucking aphids

Taking a sow thistle into the 'studio' to photograph, I found it was covered in aphids:


Aphids are small insects that suck the sap out of many plants - they can be quite harmful in the garden. I noticed these (it would be difficult not to notice them as there were so many!) on a sow thistle I had just picked from an overgrown part of the garden. The smaller ones are about 1-2 mm long with the larger ones 4-5mm (say 1/6th inch) long. Some have wings but many do not.

Their life cycle is quite unusual in that for most of the season, the females produce young without the need of a male. Not only that, they give birth to live young (no eggs to hatch) who are pregnant! - No wonder they breed so fast. In the UK, the green ones are commonly known as greenfly, the black ones as blackfly.

Although not seen in these photos, ants often farm them for the sweet honeydew that they excrete.

In the first photo, I show the aphids sucking the sap of a cluster of flower buds of the sow thistle. Most of them do not have wings although there is one with wings on the flower bud on the right.

In the second image shown below, the aphids are on (what I think is called) the sepal - the green part that protects the flower. You can see that the sow-thistle has a yellow dandelion-like flower.



In this final photograph, I show a part of the stem that is covered in the aphids. If you look carefully, you can see their proboscis (the tube like part of the mouth) stuck into the stem.



The full set can be seen in the Environment Gallery.

Technical details:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: An old Canon 100m macro
Studio - Black card gently curved up from the base to form the background.
Lighting: Off camera flashgun to one side through a diffuser, a reflector (kitchen foil on a piece of cardboard) to the other side to fill in the shadows.

Horsey windpump

This week I am featuring the windpump at Horsey.


A windpump is like a windmill but, instead of grinding corn, it pumps water. There are many of these scattered around the Norfolk Broads in various states of repair (or disrepair). They are required in the Norfolk Broads to pump water from the low lying land into the rivers that run higher otherwise the land would revert back to flooded marshlands.This one is owned and maintained by the National Trust - a charity that conserves old buildings and important areas of land.

The first photograph shows the fantail at the top of the structure. To get there you have to climb the extremely steep stairs within the building to get to the platform at the top. There is a good view from the top, especially of Horsey Mere.

The second photograph shows the footpath adjacent to the moorings that leads to the windpump. This is more of a 'classic windmill style' image, but does show the well preserved structure of the building.



The final photograph that I show is of some of the mechanisms within the building. Although they are not functioning, It appears that all the mechanical apparatus is still in place. Some of the gear teeth are iron, some are wood. What amazes me is the size and weight of it all - how did it get in there when it was originally built?



More photographs of the windpump can be seen in the Miscellaneous Gallery. Due to the restrictions the National Trust places on photography, these are not available on commercial terms.

Camera club competition - Walberswick OAT

This week I didn't do so well in my local camera club competition.


This month the competition was an 'Outside Activities Trophy' (OAT) competition. How this works is that on a specified afternoon, members go to a pre-defined location to take photographs. A few weeks later the photographs taken can be entered into the competition. Unlike the regular competitions, you can enter 3 photographs into each of the three categories - Colour print, B&W print and projected image - a total of 9 images.

Walberswick is a small village on the Suffolk coast in the east of the UK. It is just to the south, across the river, from the more popular Southwold.

I entered three photos for each category but did not get a placement for any of them. Some of the winners were very good but I was a little disappointed as I thought I had some strong images - I show what I consider to be the best here.

The first photo shown above was the entry into the colour print section. I liked this one due to the strong lines formed by the woodwork of the footbridge. I also felt it had a good level of detail in showing the lichens growing on the wood.

The second image was for the projected image section and is of creek draining in to the river as it meets the sea. The buildings in the distance across the river are in Southwold. I liked this photo because of the lines of the wooden structures and the details such as the boat passing by, the boys fishing and the seagulls. Obviously, the members (who vote for the winners) disagreed.



The final print was for the Black & White section. This is of the main gates to the church and shows the names of men from the village who fell in the First World War. I spent a lot of time both taking the picture (to get the view right) and the printing. Again, it was unplaced.



The full suite of photographs can be seen in the Featured Pictures Gallery.