Original description on Flickr:

They're back!

For those that don't know, last year I found a new UK species of springtail on my pond! And they are without doubt one of the prettiest! They're around 0.7mm big...

I check periodically, and while they're generally hanging out on the pond somewhere, there's never any near the side where I can get my camera to them. But it looks like late September is the right time of year for them as there's a whole load of females bombing around. So I'll probably be uploading a few shots over the next few days, as and when I manage to get some good shots. I really want a high mag stack but they don't really stand still much. I'll keep trying.

I had to light this with a tripod LED floating on the pond on a piece of wood so i could see what I was doing. Ponds aren't the easiest of places. (The blue colour on her bum is a flash artefact due to the wax-like substance they wipe on their hide reflecting the flash.)