Welcome to Look Closer! Together, let's look closer at the smaller and often overlooked wonders of
I know it's been a while but it's time for a new video!
https://youtu.be/c6Vn2eIirsc
This episode we have a five day field trip looking for peacock spiders with Bridgette Stingray Gower from Aussie Macro Photos
Other special guests include Paul Irvine from PWI Photography, Joseph Schubert and Jonah Walker.
Enjoy!
What a spectacular spider! Just wow. A two-toned desert wolf spider Hoggicosa sp.
This species has been on my bucket list for a while now and this week I had the pleasure of catching up with a whole family of them.
This lovely lady was clearly the biggest of the bunch with a legspan of at least 70mm standing as tall as she is. There were lots of other smaller girls in their burrows and 3 fully grown adult males wandering around. What a fantastic couple of nights of photography.
Lake Wells. Out near the western edge of the Gibson desert.
Nature is not always kind, but hey, frogs have to eat too.
I came across this little scene while wandering around in the dark and rain next to a local lakeside. As you do.
The bigger frog is a rather drab looking motorbike frog (Litoria moorei), and the smaller prey frog is a juvenile banjo (Limnodynastes dorsalis).
Both species were everywhere that night along with another two or three species. It was one of the first rains of the autumn and all the frogs were making the most of the wet conditions.
I had a fantastic shoot this weekend. There were so lots wonderful spiders out at this location and I have so many images to sort and process from just a 2 hour shoot!
This little beauty is Sidymella hirsuta.
This species is an ambush hunter and often sits in this pose on a twig waiting for prey to wander past.
The individual I've shot here has found another great spot to hunt. She's set up camp right at the end of the web belonging to a scoprion-tailed spider. If the scorpion-tail is disturbed and has to retreat down to the foliage she will run right into the waiting trap set by Ms Hairy-legs here.
As part of my ongoing collaboration with Bridgette over at Aussie Macro Photos, here is my latest blog post!
We're all about fungi this time as we reminisce on the winter while sweltering in the 44°C summer heat. I hope you enjoy.
https://aussiemacrophotos.com/look-closer-dr-mat/
We're off to Pindar today to see the Wreath flowers!
This video was filmed earlier the year, so the wreath flowers have all finished for the season, but they are certainly worth looking forward to next year! Especially for all those watchers interstate that will hopefully be able to come over for the 2022 wildflower season.
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/tmAYlZUREa8
Today we're looking for the wreath flowers of the Western Australian mid-west.This is the third installment for our series on the wildflowers of the midwest ...
Continuing on from last video's wildflower theme, this week we're exploring Coalseam Conservation Park to check out the seasonal display of everlasting daisies and other wildflowers.
https://youtu.be/MV5k_MoxC3A
Today we're out chasing the everlastings of Coalseam Conservation Park!Coalseam conservation park is a great place to see the everlasting daisies and other ...
Time for a wildflower adventure this episode
We're heading out to Eneabba looking for her royal highness, the Northern Queen of Sheba orchid.
https://www.youtube.com/c/LookCloser
It's that time again! It's peacock spider season!
This episode we're heading just outside the Perth metro region to find Maratus banyowla, a peacock spider that was only formally described 18 months ago.
Follow the links to see the video!
https://www.youtube.com/c/LookCloser
Time for the next installment of Look Closer.
https://www.youtube.com/c/LookCloser
Our subject this time is not so miniscule, but you do have to go looking at night to see it at it's best.
This time we're looking for the Ghost fungus, Omphalotus nidiformis.
I've just come back from a whirlwind tour through Eneabba, Mullewa and Coalseam conservation park.
There were so many highlights on the trip but the Pindar wreath flowers were certainly high on the list.
Lechenaultia macrantha.
Time for another video! This time we have the miniscule but incredibly engineered cannonball fungus, Sphaerobolus stellatus.
Head on over to the channel page to see the latest installment of Look Closer
https://www.youtube.com/c/LookCloser
Not exactly everyone's favourite mushroom but certainly one of the most recognisable. In today's look Closer video we check out the fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria.
https://www.youtube.com/c/LookCloser
Time for a new video!
We're looking at a very obscure little plant this installment of Look Closer. It's the stemsucker parasite, Pilostyles.
Head on over to the Look Closer channel page to check it out
https://www.youtube.com/c/LookCloser
If you know what a quokka is you probably already know that they hang out on Rottnest Island right?
Well not ALL quokkas are on Rotto, there are a few populations on the mainland too. Let's have a look at the south eastern most one outside of Albany.
Thanks to Ry Beaver for teaming up with me for a second time to chase up some warm blooded critters.
https://youtu.be/V_CzUiAVUyo
Everyone knows that quokkas are found on Rottnest right? But that's not the only place you'll find them. Today we're at Two People's Bay near Albany in We...
Honey Possums!
This video marks the beginning of a new collaboration with Ry Beaver at Wildlife Watching Australia where we'll be looking at local native mammals.
We're kicking it off with a widespread but cryptic little mammal, Tarsipes rostratus, the honey possum or Noolbenger. We found this little beast on the south coast near Cheynes Beach.
https://youtu.be/lXBFYTKGEe4
Tonight we're on the trail of the cryptic little honey possum, the only native Australian exclusively nectivorous mammal.This is the first of a few episode w...
Time for a new video!
Since it's well and truly winter here in Perth, Australia it's time for the fungi to start popping up. To kick off fungi season we've got cute little Bird's nest fungi in a very urban habitat.
I have at another two fungi videos ready to go amongst other cool topics so keep a look out here on FB and subscribe directly to the YouTube channel because there will be plenty more coming soon.
https://youtu.be/YKOxbMbWfvM
Today we're out chasing bird's nest fungi in a very unlikely place, in a w**dy verge on the edge of a very busy main road.These tiny little fungi are very in...
I had an impromptu session with some little bird's nest fungi yesterday. Tiny and inconspicuous these little beauties are very easy to miss.
Another beautiful Dolomedes fishing spider.
This one was from the karri forests of south west WA and is much darker than the green one I photographed last time. Also much larger at about 70mm leg span.
I love the water droplets adhering to the undersides of her legs.
Time for a new video!
We're continuing our series on carnivorous plants in this episode, but this time we're moving underwater to Look Closer at Utricularia australis, the Yellow Bladderwort.
A huge thanks to Thilo Krueger for his insight into this species, as well as other carnivorous plants of Western Australia.
I hope you enjoy this installment.
https://youtu.be/ZcBjCuL6tvI
Here is the second installment in our series on Western Australian carnivorous plants. Today we have Utricularia australis, the Yellow Bladderwort.While not...
Dragonflies are such incredible natural machines. They always look like they have been built from space age composite materials.
I found this Australian Emperor sleeping in my garden tonight and couldn't pass up the opportunity for a quick photo shoot.
Anax papuensis
Bridgette at Aussie Macro Photos has asked me to contribute a regular blog to her website!
If you're in need of a bit of macro goodness head over to the Aussie Macro Photos website where you can check out my blog as well as those of a few other like-minded people.
Welcome to Look Closer with Dr. Mat Hi, welcome to the first Look Closer with Dr. Mat blog entry for Aussie Macro Photos! Usually, my media of choice is video though my YouTube channel Look Closer, however when Bridgette asked if I would like to contribute to the blog series on
I just finished editing what I think is one of my best images to date.
This is a female Dolomedes facetus, the clever fishing spider. Check out the fuzzy velvet coat she's wearing!
This image is the result of merging 33 individual handheld photos into one image to conquer the shallow depth-of-field you get with macro.
This post is a teaser for several upcoming episodes; one on this awesome species as well as a whole series of videos on developing your skills in nature macro that I am putting together with Paul Irvine from PWI Photography. Look out for that fantastic content coming up over on the Look Closer YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF8QyZEYTarENVvcTfN8J-w
While out filming last night I met a spider I just couldn't walk past.
A wraparound spider. Dolophones.
I say "met" not "found" because this one found me. It dropped down from the tailgate of my car as I was unloading my gear and waved hello before scuttling back up to the reverse camera.
Of course the rest of my shoot was totally and enjoyably derailed as I photographed this little beauty.
I finally have my next video out!
Its all about the carnivorous Albany Pitcher Plant and its cryptic little partner, a flightless stilt-legged fly called Badisis ambulans.
This is the first episode of a new set of videos on Western Australian native carnivorous plants that I am working on, so you'll see more of this kind of material coming up.
This has been in progress for a few months now as I gathered the footage so I'm really pleased to present it to you all.
Please enjoy
https://youtu.be/MY3LMcSUdKY
We're starting a new series of videos today on Western Australian carnivorous plants! First off we have the iconic Albany pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicul...
Well it's certainly summer now and the peacock spiders are almost finished for the season.
Here's a look back at the 25 species I've found this year.
Just saying... there may be a NEW SPECIES or two amongst them
https://youtu.be/QdKS_EHvf5g
We're just at the tail end of the 2020 Peacock spider season here in Western Australian and I thought I'd put together a quick wrap up of the 25 species I'v...
I've been filming a very unusual and cool little animal for Look Closer today.
Can anyone see what's wrong with this ant? 😁
Hi All,
Here is my newest video, this time we're taking a closer look at another of our peacock spider species. Maratus flavus
As we reach the latter end of the Western Australian peacock spider season I'll be posting up a few more videos that I've been working on since July.
Stay tuned!
https://youtu.be/PvrMOJWyzdA
Happy jumping spider day 2020!
Here is a picture I took today, 10/10/2020.
On my current tour of Esperance, Western Australia.
Maratus australis.
A quick trip out to Cape Riche in southwest Australia today showed up this cute little fella.
Maratus personatus.
I spent a while looking for this species in various habitats but eventually found him on my favourite plant. Even though the coastal onion grass is an introduced w**d all the coastal peacock species seem to love it.
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