Photo of a male keeled skimmer dragnofly - Orthetrum coerulescens - at rest on a horsetail in full sun.

photo of some round-leaved sundews - Drosera rotundifolia - growing through sphagnum moss

photo of a pirate wolf spider - Pirata sp. - standing on the water surface in a peat bog

Found a small patch of sphagnum bog on a valley floor in the middle of what is mostly well-drained pasture land. Home to a lively colony of keeled skimmers - Orthetrum coerulescens, also sundews and pirate wolf spiders.

#arachnophobia_tw #spiders #dragonfly #naturephotography #argyll #scotland #uk

photograph of an orb web hanging from some grass stems bound together held under tension.

Constructing an orb web without a rigid framework requires some elegant engineering.

#spider #orbweaver #araneidae #wildlifephotography #web #grass #argyll #scotland #uk #arachnophobia_tw

Macro photo of a 4mm long red mite feeding on an insect larva in a bed of moss.

A big mite (4mm!) feeding(?) on a crane fly(?) larva. Calyptostoma specifically parasitise crane flies - young mites cling to adult crane flies; adults feed on crane fly larvae. Could that be what's going on here?
#arachnid #tipulidae #arachnophobia_tw #naturephotography #argyll #scotland #uk