The secret life of sandwell slugs...

....not the most inspirational title for a blog post, but it is exactly what myself, two very dedicated rspb volunteers and a band of local youngsters found out on Tuesday night.

Every few weeks I take over the local youth club and try my best to get the kids excited about Sandwell Valley nature reserve, and just wild stuff in general. This week it was time to try out some macro photography (aka taking pictures of stuff really close up with lots of detail).

Before we headed over to the local community centre which hosts the club, I had to do a bit of searching through the undergrowth to find some creatures to photograph. It turns out that on a wet, grey, cold and muddy Tuesday afternoon, a 30 minute quick bug hunting session will reward the explorer with little more than woodlouse, several small slugs and a selection of earthworms. Perhaps I'm just not that good at locating insects, maybe I'll recruit a blue tit or a robin to help me next time (how do they find so many insects and make it look so easy).

So we headed out to the youth club at 7pm, equipped with digital cameras, spot lights and the stars of the show. At first the reaction was less than enthusiastic to say the least (we were competing with an xbox and a pool table). But I'm happy to say that after 5 minutes there was a handful of kids milling around our table and soon it was lights...camera...action. 

Taking pictures of small creatures is a lot harder than you think. The guys had to think about the lighting, the angle, background colours, the subject and master the cameras themselves. It really was quite tricky, but they put a lot of effort into getting the shots in focus.

Steady hands from one of the youth club members

Below are some of my favourite shots from the night:



I like to call this one 'woodlouse on the edge'

I would like you all to get your phones out, have a bit of a rummage in your garden, look under plant pots and in your flower beds to find some nice creepy crawlies to photograph.

Top tip: use an old paintbrush to collect specimens so you don't damage them!!

The pictures above show some of the amazing detail found in nature. It is waiting to be discovered if you just look close enough.