Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Sea waves, Sand waves and Light waves

Last year around June the world powerboat circumnavigation record was broken
by the vessel pictured below. Earthrace.



Built from Carbon fibre, it is designed as a wave piercing trimaran.
Cutting through the waves, the windscreen designed to withstand 7M of water above it, it runs on bio diesel, and is extremely enviro friendly ( and an exiting ride).
Arriving as it did on Jan 19Th this year in Bermagui provided for some interesting shots and discussions with the crew.
It has been touring the world, with over 150,000 visitors on board to date, promoting enviro design through development of ideas.

The following waves are quite different.
The Ant lions trap, pictured in the following 3 shots, is constructed at an angle to allow passing insects to be drawn to the bottom of the funnel through the action of sand flicked at the prey by the Ant lion below.







And yet another type of waves.
The light waves returning from this orchid are no doubt registering in the ultra violet to signal potential pollinators.
It is very attractive in the visual spectrum also.



Does any one know the pollinator?

4 comments:

  1. Hi David
    Your lovely pink Orchid image is of a Hycinth Orchid. Looks like a species called "Dipodium punctatum". If so, it is one I have not photographed yet. The more common species in Kangaloon is plainer pink (D. roseum)
    All these plants are recorded as pollinated by "native bees and wasps" - or so the experts say.
    .
    I saw images of the Speedboat in Sydney recently. Did you go on board? Hope so.
    .
    Ant Lions are great. I have always wanted to get good images of them in action. Nice work.
    They have a winged stage which looks like a giant Lacewing, apparently. Extraordinary transformation, but then again, Dragonflies emerge from underwater creatures - so that's an even more dramatic transformation. Ain't Nature amazing?
    Cheers
    Denis

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  2. Hi David (again).
    I left your blog and went to Duncan's Ben Cruachan, and he has a photo of the winged stage of an Ant Lion.
    http://bencruachan.org/blog/?p=2374
    Serendipity.

    Cheers
    Denis

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  3. A very interesting post. The photos of the ant lion are fascinating. Does it only take ants or anything that happens to fall in?

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  4. Thanks for the comments guys :)

    I think anything it can grasp between its pincers it will take on Mick...its a tough little creature!
    They always remind me of that Star Wars movie..you know the one?..if not, its the one where they rescue Han Solo..take a look, and be glad our ant lions are as small as they are :)

    Cheers,

    David

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