Hello! I'm from Catalunya, near Barcelona, Spain next to the Mediterranean Sea. (Remember the 1992 Olympic Games ...?). In a normal year in this region the temperatures varies from +2°C in winter (December - March) to 36°C in summer (June - September). But in this region the humidity is very high, up to 90% in summer, so you are always sweating! But remember that these weather conditions are for Barcelona; if you go to our 'high' mountains, the Pyrenees, (altitude 3200 meters) you will be frozen with temperatures below -20°C in winter.

The photographs below have been taken using a Sony Mavica digital camera (resolution 640x480 pixels), through one side of a stereo microscope but replacing the standard eyepiece with a reflex camera lens. It's important to have a lot of light, so I use incident direct sunlight with the microscope. These are samples of several trial sessions of the equipment, and I hope to take more images and obtain better results. The enlargements are stated in parentheses.

Comments to the author Carlos Bernal are welcomed.

Visit Carlos' home pages where more of his macroscopic digital images of Spanish wildlife are displayed. The set-up of the stereo microscope, reflex camera lens and Mavica camera is shown here.

	Detail of a cactus. The photo' was taken using the camera's own macro facility.
	'Cluster' of hibiscus pollen, hanging from its stamen (40x). The hibiscus is a plant that needs warm weather and sunshine. Its flowers are usually large ca. 10 cm diameter and red in colour.
	Hibiscus stamens with pollen. The photo above shows pollen detail (20x).
	A tree bark lichen of the Mediterranean region (20x).
	Detail of the plague that every year invades my house terrace: ('Pulgones' - not sure of the English), (20x). Feeding on the sap of an ivy bud (the hairy stem). These insects are parasitic of many plants in a garden, usually attacking the end of the new stems, and measures from less than 1 mm to 2 mm (20x).
	Detail of another invader of my house terrace. An ant, natural size 3mm (20x).
	A spider from my house terrace. Natural size 3mm. (20x).
	Another detail of the same spider, where you can see his numerous eyes ... because of these I spent a lot of time trying to catch it ...(40x).

Editor's note: If you would like to share a snapshot on Micscape of the macroscopic fauna and flora local to you - why not contact us (see link below to Editor).

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Published in the February 2000 edition of Micscape Magazine.

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