Photographing insects may require great patience and high technical skill. They move about so much, quick to see or feel you approaching, and many are only active at night.

 

We have many thousands of images of British and European butterflies and moths, including development stages, dragonflies, spiders, and other small invertebrates.

Natural History Photographs

Insects and Spiders

 

From brightly coloured butterflies and moths to weird spiders and flies.

Telephone:  (+44) 07789891903
Email:  candhspellant@yahoo.co.uk

The Cross or Garden Spider. Seen head-on in extreme close-up, this predator has spiky legs and large, black eyes. The white stripe on its body is part of the cross-shaped markings from which one of its vernacular names is derived. Each night it eats its web together with the captured flies and midges.

Lime Hawk Moths. A pair of freshly emerged moths resting during the day. The female is the browner of the two with a fatter body and more slender antennae. This species, in common with many hawk moths, over winters as a pupa, and the adults are on the wing in May and June.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly hatching from pupa. This species, once common, is becoming increasingly rare in Britain. The pupa here is attached to the stem of a stinging nettle, the caterpillar’s food plant. Wing colours are visible through the pupal skin for about twelve hours before hatching, the whole pupal stage lasting about two weeks.

All photographs are copyright C and HS Pellant.

Photographs are shown in low resolution.