Wimbledon Common excursion
Saturday 19th May 2018
On a fine, warm day, several Quekett members took their microscopes, cameras and computers to the Information Centre on Wimbledon Common for another enjoyable day of pond dipping, microscopy and photography in the company of fellow microscopists. As in previous years, Dennis Fullwood had obtained permission from the Conservators for us to use the Centre and to collect specimens from the Common, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
Barry Wendon guarded our equipment while the rest of us walked to Scio Pond on the other side of the A3 to see what we could find. Dennis Fullwood and Tony Pattinson used nets to collect from the pond, Paul Smith used a long tube supported by a golf-ball retriever to collect from the bottom, and Alan Wood collected plants and lichens. We saw a good number of tadpoles, and a few red-bodied damselflies. After lunch, we walked down the hill to Queensmere for another collecting session.
Dennis Fullwood collecting from Scio Pond, watched by Thanya Nirantasook and Jacques Sanz Polo
Tony Pattinson collecting from Scio Pond
Between us we had a wide range of equipment, including inspection cameras, stereo microscopes, trinocular compound microscopes, SLR cameras, mirrorless cameras and point-and-shoot cameras. It was fascinating to watch Tony Pattinson and Graham Matthews at work, taking series of photos as quickly as possible before their specimens moved and then stacking the images on their computers. They both used lidocaine hydrochloride to slow down their specimens.
Quekett members and visitors in the Information Centre
Graham Matthews used his trinocular Leitz Dialux with DIC, a Canon EOS 500D camera and a laptop running DSLR Remote Pro, Helicon Focus and Paintshop Pro 2018. He used a modified electronic flash for lighting, varying the output to obtain correct exposure. Graham rapidly took series of images for stacking by turning the fine focus knob with his hand and operating the camera via a footswitch that emulates a mouse click.
Graham Matthews
The specimens that Graham found included rotifers (Asplanchna sp. and Keratella sp.), waterfleas (Daphnia pulex and Scapholeberis mucronata), algae (Euglena acus, Pediastrum sp. and Phacus sp.) and diatoms. You can see some of his photographs below, and more in the Quekett Facebook group.
Tony Pattinson used his PZO MST-131 stereomicroscope to sort material and his Olympus CH-2, ToupTek camera (from Brunel) and ToupView software to take photographs. The CH-2 is modified with a 5-way nosepiece, LED illumination, and a supplementary lens below the condenser that allows the Zeiss Plan 2.5× objective to be fully illuminated. Tony rapidly took series of images for stacking by turning the fine focus knob with one hand and clicking his mouse with the other hand. He used ToupView to stack the images, and Microsoft ICE for stitching.
Tony Pattinson
The specimens that Tony found included waterfleas (Bosmina sp., Ceriodaphnia sp., Daphnia pulex, Ilyocryptus sordidus and Simocephalus mucronata), Cyclops sp., diatoms, brown hydra and a flatworm. You can see some of his photographs below, and more in the Quekett Facebook group.
Paul Smith brought an unbranded inspection lens (recently acquired on eBay) with a Canon EOS M mirrorless camera attached to a television.
Paul Smith
Paul also brought his Swift Field Master portable microscope with a simple LED illuminator, and took photographs with his Olympus Tough camera.
Paul Smith with his Swift FM-31 portable microscope
Neil Henry used a PZO monocular microscope with the eyepiece replaced by a YW5.OM camera connected to a laptop with S-EYE software.
Paul Smith and Neil Henry, with Nathalie Chevallier-Hean drawing their specimens
Irma Irsara brought her unbranded trinocular stereomicroscope with an LED ring-light.
Mary Morris brought her Watson stereomicroscope with its transmitted-light base and an external LED lamp, and several taxonomic keys.
Dennis Fullwood brought his Nikon Labophot compound microscope, his Olympus SZ4045 stereomicroscope and his recently-acquired Chinese 14MP inspection camera displaying images on an Iiyama monitor. Dennis used the Nikon to show specimens from Scio Pond, and the inspection camera to show woolly aphids (Phyllaphis fagi (L.)) on a beech leaf and insects in Baltic amber.
Alan Wood and Thanya Nirantasook brought their Olympus SZ4045 stereomicroscope and used it to examine plants, aphids and lichen from the common and filamentous algae (with lots of insect larvae) and duckweed from Queensmere.
Thanya Nirantasook
Visitors included a troup of Scouts, Ralph Prince, Albert and Winifred Greenfield, Martin Allwright, Peter Webber (with an Olympus MIC that he compared with Tony’s modified version), Jacques Sanz Polo (a new QMC member at his first meeting) and Nathalie Chevallier-Hean (one of the leaders of Wimbledon Common Nature Club).
As part of the Club’s microscopy outreach programme, Quekett members will be back in the Information Centre on Wimbledon Common for the BioBlitz on Sunday 24th June 2018 and for Open Day on Sunday 9th September 2018.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Dennis Fullwood for organising another successful Quekett excursion, and to the Conservators for allowing us to use the Information Centre and to collect specimens.
Report and photographs by Alan Wood
Specimens from the ponds and the common
Yellow and grey lichens on a twig [by Alan Wood]
Aphids and a syrphid larva on bramble [by Alan Wood]
Brown hydra (scale bar = 1 mm) [by Tony Pattinson]
Insect larvae in egg mass [by Tony Pattinson]
Insect larva [by Paul Smith]
Flatworm [by Tony Pattinson]
Copepod with eggs (4× objective, scale bar = 500 µm) [by Tony Pattinson]
Ilyocryptus sordidus (Liévin) (scale bar = 100 µm) [by Tony Pattinson]
Daphnia sp. (4× objective, scale bar = 500 µm) [by Tony Pattinson]
Daphnia sp. with eggs [by Tony Pattinson]
Daphnia sp. (10× objective, scale bar = 400 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Daphnia pulex Leydig with young (scale bar = 0.5 mm) [by Graham Matthews]
Daphnia pulex Leydig with young (scale bar = 0.5 mm) [by Graham Matthews]
Ceriodaphnia sp. with young [by Tony Pattinson]
Scapholeberis mucronata (O. F. Müller) (10× objective, scale bar = 400 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Scapholeberis mucronata (O. F. Müller) (10× objective, scale bar = 400 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Scapholeberis mucronata (O. F. Müller) (10× objective, scale bar = 400 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Gyrosigma sp. [by Paul Smith]
Pediastrum sp. (25× objective, scale bar = 100 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Euglena acus (O. F. Müller) (25× objective, scale bar = 100 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Asplanchna sp. (16× objective, scale bar = 200 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Asplanchna sp. (25× objective, scale bar = 100 µm) [by Graham Matthews]
Keratella sp. (25× objective, scale bar = 100 µm) [by Graham Matthews]