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| 1 | 2 |  » Stats |
Members: 50,144
Threads: 82,317
Posts: 853,066
Top Poster: glsammy (15,069)
| | Welcome to our newest member, docotton | |  | 
02-04-2007, 08:56 AM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: N.E.SOMERSET
Posts: 9,043
| | | Gnat Dancing
I watched a huge cloud of Gnats dancing around my Rowan tree
I took my camera up and set the 70-300 to its 200 mark and shutter
priority half a dozen shots were taken and some reasonable results
obtained
Why do they dance, what do they eat, what are they? I noticed
that as I got closer they used me as an assembly point and danced
above me but if I made a sudden move they reassembled amongst the
tree branches very interesting to watch a bit like Starlings
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Your garden their refuge, a jig-saw of habitats for wildlife under pressure |
02-04-2007, 09:20 AM
|  | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Gloucestershire
Posts: 685
| | | Re: Gnat Dancing
Can't answer those questions but I'd like to see the photos. Andy took some interesting shots of gnats in sunlight a few weeks ago. They look like little orange corkscrews in the pic. I'll ask him if I can show you when he gets home. |
02-04-2007, 09:43 AM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: N.E.SOMERSET
Posts: 9,043
| | | Re: Gnat Dancing
I would love to show you but have not been able to post images
for sometime.I will try some with the 70-300 and a small 12mm tube
Set at 200,small aperture and external flash I should be able to see
what is in their pockets
Then I will try the 105 sigma
look forward to seeing your shots
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Your garden their refuge, a jig-saw of habitats for wildlife under pressure |
02-04-2007, 02:26 PM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 13,609
| | | Re: Gnat Dancing
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightshade  I watched a huge cloud of Gnats dancing around my Rowan tree
I took my camera up and set the 70-300 to its 200 mark and shutter
priority half a dozen shots were taken and some reasonable results
obtained
Why do they dance, what do they eat, what are they? I noticed
that as I got closer they used me as an assembly point and danced
above me but if I made a sudden move they reassembled amongst the
tree branches very interesting to watch a bit like Starlings | Possibly Winter Gnats, Trichocera species- they fly in these groups year round, but often more noticeable in winter. The adults don't feed + the swarms are males- so they're of sexual significance.
Larvae feed in fungi or decomposing vegetation. |
02-04-2007, 02:36 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: N.E.SOMERSET
Posts: 9,043
| | | Re: Gnat Dancing
Thanks Aeshna,I see huge clouds of these in a lane which runs parallel
to a railway line.They live around the tops of trees which are on a level
with the tracks,so when a train goes by they stream after it in the
slipstream like smoke then reassemble as if nothing happened
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