I came across this Drinker moth caterpillar when wandering around in the rain last week at Woods Mill nature reserve in West Sussex. It took some time before I found much insect activity as many insects were sheltering beneath leaves and other things. This caterpillar was resting on an old, decayed grass stem about 40 cm above the ground alongside a path. I took a couple of record shots along it’s length for identification purposes…then I took this one!

Canon 5D Mark II EF 100 mm f2.8 macro IS L lens, 1/80 @ f9 ISO 1000, handheld.

Shortly afterwards, I discovered this Scorpion fly devouring a St. Mark’s fly. The light levels were quite low so the shutter speeds were slow but I’m pleased with the level of sharpness I achieved using the image stabilized version of this lens. With my previous non-IS f2.8 macro lens, I needed a shutter speed of at least 1/125 second.

Canon 5D Mark II EF 100 mm f2.8 macro IS L lens, 1/50 @ f10 ISO 640, flash, handheld.