The Flickr Loopkever Image Generatr

Since teaming up with my son to hunt for peacock beetles was such a success when visiting his grandmother earlier the same summer (of 2023), Daniel and I made a trip to Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park hoping to find one in by the Stensjöbäcken creek.

Well, as you can see, this worked out beautifully and he spotted one of the little gems running and managed to pick it up and put on a flat rock so I could photograph it (this included copious amounts of herding as it wasn't at all interested in staying still)

This particular species is called the copper peacock beetle (Elaphrus cupreus) and this is photographed at 3:1 magnification.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53079611271/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54330206142/

It only takes one. Basically all the green tiger beetles (Cicindela campestris) running around next to the parking lot at the main entrance to Tyresta National Park where just as shy as always. I caught a few with the camera and one or two couples which were interlocked in mating which nicely enough makes them less prone to escape.

And then there is this one. For starters, she refused to fly and just kept running which makes things so much easier. And then, after a while of shooting, I began hearing her with my hand which also worked - until she jumped onto the hand!

I must have very nice hands or something, buecause she found a finger she liked and stayed there. And kept staying. I had time to take several shots (this one is at 1.8:1 mag) and even used the hand she was sitting on to rotare the ring on the lens to adjust the magnification without her leaving. Then my son called so I took the call and talked to him with Mrs. Tiger still on the finger and after finishing the call, I used the phone camera to film her a little - which can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54499442618/

A short behind the scenes video of a female green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris) who, unlike all the other tigers there in Tyresta National Park that day, didn't immediately run or fly away when I got close and instead sat still on my finger for as long as I wanted.

One of the photos taken with the "real" camera here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54499531235/

At this time of year, right next to the ditch betwee the forest and the (gravel) parking lot at the main entrance to the Tyresta National Park (ie not the one I typically visit) there is a multitude of green tiger beetles (Cicindela campestris) trying to find a mate and bury their eggs in the ground.

Tiger beetle life is built on speed and they are pretty much always jumpy, but when hooking up like these two, it is actually a bit easier to get close. The tricky part (apart from the sneaking) is to line up the focus plane so you get an eye on each of them in focus which sorta worked here.

This sleek beetle with the nice metallic paintjob is a rainbow greenclock beetle (Poecilus versicolor). Like most ground beetles, this species relies on its speed, but for hunting and for getting out of trouble so getting it to stay still for a couple of photos wasn't super easy, but in the end we got a couple of workable snaps.

Like the species name "versicolor" indicates, this one doesn't always have the same colour. Here is a shot of one taken about a kilometer east of this one a couple of years earlier: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53427082058/

From this particular angle, this female green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris) came out looking especially sinister. I mean, with this meancing jaws and large eyes, they have a pretty serious look to them to begin with, but there is something extra here.

This is a two-exposure focus stack since she decided to stay still and also because the new Godox V860III recharges in like an instant compared to the older unit. Photo taken near the Stenbäcken creek outlet into the Nedre Dammen pond at Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park,south of Stockholm, Sweden in mid-April of 2025.

A really close (3.7:1 mag) portrait of the same girl here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54457008154/

Really quite stoked with getting a couple of captures of this mating pair of green tiger beetles (Cicindela campestris) using the MP-E65mm lens.

It took a bunch of tries, but I eventually managed to line up properly to get the eyes of both of them in focus at the same time.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52889278981/in/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53054955074/

Say hello to a green-socks peacock beetle (Elaphrus riparius). This species is normally beautifully green (like so: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53041702988/) but this is a really cool - and really red - colour morph.

I found these last summer together with my son in the Mjällådalen Nature Reserve near Härnösand, Sweden, and for this year's first visit, we found even more of them.

These are quite small at around 7 mm / .27" but are quite fast so shooting them isn't that easy.

For a rundown on how we team up to get the photos (plus a photo of him in action on location), have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53837547506/

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53837539276/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53889458761/

So for the 2025 season, I've upgraded my flash from a Godox TT685 to a much faster recycling Godox Ving 860III and also
built myself a new flash diffuser for it. This took me some time and some prototyping, but this week I finally got v1 of my Handmaid diffuser completed and so far I am very pleased. Photos showing the design chioces will follow eventually.

Today, the season started for me when I took the new diffuser to Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park, south of Stockholm, Sweden, to try it out. This was a bit on the early side and there wasn't much out and about to shoot - but this lone female green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris) was running around in small a dirt slope facing to the south which I know is a good spot for them (and incidently also v-fronted jumping spiders).

At first we did the typical dance with them running around and me trying to keep up and get a shot in here and there - but then she decided she was done for a while and parked right in front of me, face towards me!

Very happy for the opportunity, I was able to try various magnifications and settings all the way in to the maximum 5:1 of my lens. This one is "only" 3.7:1 which in itself is a ridiculously high mag to shoot live tiger beetles.

The way I can tell (I think) that this is a female is by the size of the mandibles. While there certainly are impressive, the males have even larger ones which they use to grab around the thorax of the female when mating.

Looking at the blue spots on the elytra of this copper peacock beetle (Elaphrus cupreus), you have to think the peacock part is quite fitting. The title says "Regular copper" - so what is regular about it? Well, not long after shooting this one in the Mjällådalen nature reserve near Härnösand, Sweden, I spotted a spectacularily green colour form of the same species.A good photo of that one can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53846782368/

These guys are small (~5 mm / .2") and fast runners so shooting them with the required high magnification isn't easy. Here, I had very nice help from my son who kept them in check while I tried to photograph them. A shot of that can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54443269788/

Another one of the absolutely gorgeous green-socks peacock beetles (Elaphrus riparius) which run around (seriously running around) on the sand banks in the Mjällådalen nature reserve near Härnösand, Sweden.

Right here, me and my son had it temporarily confused which made it stay still for long enough to snap two shots of it and combine them into one with more depth of field. It did however not staty still enough fto allow me to let Zerene Stacker combine the shots so I had to manually combine them in Photoshop instead.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53041702988/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53236860328/

Part 3 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53572443722/

Part 4 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53687715770/

Part 5 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/54003331827/

A short clip of the location where I found this one here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53042074405/

There are six species of peacock beetles in Sweden and so far, I've managed to photograph two of them (plus a spectacular red form of this one) and I made a separate album so if you want about 45 shots of these little gems, please have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72177720309780234

This tiny little piece of a copper is a ground beetle known as Bembidion litorale.

I found it while trying to photograph peacock beetles on sand banks in the river in the Mjällådalen nature reserve and unlike those, which seem to never stop running around, these guys are more chill and significantly easier to capure with the camera.

Another green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris) from Tyresta national park.

It weren't that many years ago that I saw my first one of these, but nowadays I consider them almost common. Still bloody beautiful of course and more often than not a real effort to sneak close to - but Iat least I see them.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53239657952/

Here are two green tiger beetles (Cicindela campestris) from an April 2023 trip to Tyresta by and the main entrance to Tyresta National Park.

I was following one of them hoping for it to stop so I could get a decent shot but it spotted another one and ran up to it and they stood there for a couple of seconds directly facing each other, before the one of the right yielded and turned a little to the left.

Since I had the MP-E65mm on the camera, this is as far away from the subject as I can get so I had to move a little to the side to be able to fit them both in frame here - but it worked out.

Something else that workd out was that they both stayed still for long enough to allow me to change the point of focus and take another shot and then focus stack them for a little extra depth of field.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52851431880/

The most distinct visual difference between males and females are the size of the mandibles as the males have bigger ones - but based on that - this would be two females. I'm not sure.

Here's a shot where it is easy to see the size difference between the mandibles: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/50283759436/

I managed to squeeze in an afternoon trip to Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park on Midsummer's Day (of 2022) and ended up climbing up along the small creek hoping to get some good shots of the demoiselles fluttering over the water which looked absolutely gorgeous with their metallic wings. It turned out to be quite difficult to capture them though so I began walking (or climbing really) towards home when I spotted a real treat on a rock next to the water!

This is a female copper peacock beetle (Elaphrus cupreus) at just 9 mm (3/8") body length shot at 2:2 magnification. It is also a two-exposure focus-stack. I didn't use any particular stacking software though and just blended the parts together using Photoshop.

Part 1, from the top, here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52218581464/

Part 2, from the side, here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52267322328/

Part 3, a portrait shot, here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52521447433/

Part 4 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52545297405/

Part 5 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53057819608/

Ground beetle, groeftarszwartschild (Pterostichus vernalis)

Since teaming up with my son to hunt for peacock beetles was such a success when visiting his grandmother earlier the same summer (of 2023), Daniel and I made a trip to Åva-Stensjödal in Tyresta National Park hoping to find one in by the Stensjöbäcken creek.

Well, as you can see, this worked out beautifully and he spotted one of the little gems running and managed to pick it up and put on a flat rock so I could photograph it (this included copious amounts of herding as it wasn't at all interested in staying still)

This particular species is called the copper peacock beetle (Elaphrus cupreus) and this is photgraphed at 2.4:1 magnification.

Part 1 was taken at 3:1 mag here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53079611271/

There are four species of tiger beetle in Sweden. The green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris), the wood tiger beetle (C.sylvatica), the northern dune tiger beetle (C. hybrida) and the dune tiger beetle (C. maritima). The green and northern dune ones are fairly common while the wood one is more rare and the dune one is endangered.

So, since one of the strongest habitats in the country of the dune one is only about 25 km from my mother-in-law's place, me and my son went there to try and find one.

I chose a place just south of the Mjällådalen nature reserve where there is a sand pit where C. maritima has been reported in 1999, 2015, 2018 and 2020.

Shooting tiger beetles can be frustrating, they are fast runners with good vision and a propensity to fly five or ten meters when you try to get close. When we got there, we quite quickly located a tiger beetle and even managed to shoot it and when it took off, Daniel took off chasing it and pointed where it landed so I could have another attempt.

We came across about five of these guys (plus a green), but when I got home and processed the shots in Photoshop, these don't look like C. maritima, but rather C. sylvatica, the wood tiger beetle.

I have no idea if they were misidentified by the previous people or if there are C. maritima there as well or what, but I am still glad for these as these actually are the second set of shots I've managed of this particular species. Hopefully we can track down the remaining two species eventually.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53847725151/

Part 2 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53966603263/

I also have an album with 75+ shots of tiger beetles here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72157719182564816/

Great four-spot treerunner, grote viervlekschorsloper (Dromius quadrimaculatus)

Lesser four-spot treerunner, kleine viervlekschorsloper (Calodromius spilotus)