New camera and other stuffs

So I bought myself a Canon 70D. The EOS 350 had served me well for nearly 10 years, so it was certainly time for an upgrade.

The 70D has far too many features to discuss here, but it has a few that I am already finding indispensable. Firstly, it has a revolutionary new focussing system, which enables it to more or less instantly decide which direction (nearer or further) to go when focussing. The 350 was fast, but the 70D is near-instant, which is crucial when photographing insects. A fully-articulated rear screen enables me to take shots above my head or down at ground level. 20 megapixels means I don't have to get so close, so depth of field can be better. It can operate over wi-fi, so uploading images means less wear and tear on memory card transfers from camera to computer and back again. Video mode means I can tag images with a piece of voice annotation.

Here are a few shots:

This is the 10mm. micromoth Celypha lacunana, which is out in very large numbers on my local hedgerow:

The micromoth Celypha lacunana

 And this is the strange-looking hoverfly Xylota segnis:

The hoverfly Xylota segnis

The first time I saw it running quickly over leaves, I thought it was a wasp of some kind with those long, grasshopper-like rear legs.

Formica fusca is the ant which is most numerous in my heathy area, and they can often be seen climbing Willow bushes to 'milk' their aphids. This one was behaving very strangely, cropping the fine hairs from a Bramble leaf. I have absolutely no idea why it was doing that.

Formica fusca, an ant

Orchids started flowering last week, so now is the time to see them at their best.

Common Spotted Orchid, with a touch of Heath Spotted

'Cleaner' Common Spotted Orchid

I also took a record shot of the white version of Bush Vetch, which is still slowly expanding its range along a ditch:

White variant of Bush Vetch

 It's still early days for the camera, but I think the results are shaping up well for the future.

Looking back

Having recently reached the milestone of 1400 species (it now stands at 1404), I thought I would do a little statistical analysis of my recorded data. I have been recording the local wildlife since 2003, and this graph shows the cumulative number of species found each year since then:

In 2003 and 2004 I only recorded plants, which explains the low starting point.

2006 was the first year that I started to record 'everything', so it's worth looking at the graph since then:

The curve shows a reasonable surge during 2008 and 2009, but each year since then has added fewer new species. It looks like the graph will level off somewhere around the 1450 mark, unless I add something new to the list of families that I record. Basically, it looks like I have found much of what can be seen - without trapping and by daytime - in my local area.

Whilst casting around for new directions, I came across a 1903 book on Ichneumons, and delved into its 380 pages with gusto. I was quickly able to identify one of my unnamed species from 2010 as Ophion luteus, which brought my total to 1402. I think I might have found my next area for expansion.

I also found a key to ants, and identified my local species of Wood Ant as Formica fusca:

Wood Ant - Formica fusca

And a check of the outdoor lights provided species #1404, the wonderful Brown China Mark micromoth:

Brown China Mark micromoth

The China Mark moths are very unusual, since their larvae are completely aquatic, feeding on plants in ponds and slow moving water.