First LCD Microscope Videos

I went out looking for a pill bug. Normally they are everywhere but this time they all remained hidden. Par for the course. Then I remembered the position of an ant nest so spent ages trying to persuade one to stay in the dish I had taken out. Nippy little blighters in more ways than one. In the end I managed to capture one and it was only when I had the dish under the microscope I found I had also caught a couple of other creatures.



So, we have an ant and what appears to me to be a mite. It was smaller than a red spider mite, hardly the size of a speck of dust and only just viewable with the naked eye. What the creature that reminds me of a hermit crab is I have no idea as yet. It was even smaller than the mite. The zoomed section was done in processing the video. All other parts are exactly as taken by the microscope. The only addition was using an external lamp to help with illumination.

One thing to note is the build in LEDs can reflect back in the camera lens but the microscope is designed so it can be tilted to get round this.

Minibeasts

An afternoon look round to see what minibeasts were about.

Bee on Bramble



Woodlouse on rotting wood



Ants on the same rotting wood





A moth, possibly AgriphilaTristella

 

Finally a spider

 

as yet unidentified.

Unidentified Bug

Just about to drop some items in our recycle bin when I spotted this minibeast



Body length about 7mm

It even let me take a bit of video



Spent quite a while looking at scores of pictures trying to identify it.
Is it an instar of some shieldbug?

Another view



If any visitor could help with the identification that would be brilliant.

Under a Plantpot

I had put a plantpot containing a seemingly dead orchid to one side a few days ago.
When I moved it this morning I was surprised how many minibeasts started scurrying about.
None were longer than about 1.5mm



I used the slow motion video facility on the iPhone to video this.
Action is about half speed.
The last time I used slow motion I mentioned that the start and end sections of slow motion videos were at normal speed and wondered why. Apparently that is normal so I invested in another app which allows me to slow down those sections as well.

Minibeasts

When I was teaching in Primary School my favourite nature lesson was one where the children worked in small groups of 3 or 4, each group having their own square metre of ground to explore for minibeasts. All those small creatures which hide in holes and under things. This morning when I was tidying up the part of the garden next to the summerhouse I moved a small pile of old bricks. As there were several minibeasts using them as a home I grabbed the laptop and the endoscope to see what I could record:

millipede, woodlice and small slug


Minibeasts 01 from Midmarsh on Vimeo.

I need the practice in keeping the little camera still and far enough away for things to stay in focus - 60mm or more. With small creatures it is tempting to get too close, also the laptop screen was very hard to see in the brilliant sunshine. I will have to think of some form of sunshade for it - possibly a cardboard box on its side might do the job.