These are perhaps the coolest and trickiest insects I have photographed so far. Like a group of miniature robot submersibles on a high speed setting. Not my best pictures but some of the ones I'm most pleased with as they were so hard to get. I only got anywhere near a decent picture when they got stuck on a bit of reed just below the surface tension of the water - then they were still for more than a millisecond!
Aren't they amazing? My daughter (who chose to do a project on these at school once) tells me that I need an underwater camera as they have two sets of eyes. One set can see predators (and photographers) above the water and the other set can see prey under the water. Technically it's two compound eyes divided into four rather than two seperate sets but it boils down to the same thing - super cool eyes!!
They are very engaging to watch as a group and remind me of a starling murmuration in the way they move together - constantly changing direction and forming new patterns to behold.
Needless to say, I got up from the river bank surprised to find my knees soaking wet and got home to my list of jobs somewhat later than planned.
Happy Snappy Ecologist: Rambling through nature makes me very Happy and I can't resist getting Snappy with my hand-held Panasonic Lumix FZ45 with clip on Raynox 150 macro lens. This helps me share my love of Ecology with others and reminds me to identify and find out more about different species when I get home. Enjoy!
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Nice post and some great photos there.
Thank you :)