Welcome to my website. Here you will find a variety of images of British wildlife, with a particular emphasis on insect macro photography. I hope you enjoy looking around.

I am usually happy for wildlife/environmental charities to use my images for free, please send me an e-mail if you would like to do so. For commercial uses, please see my images managed by the FLPA stock agency (search for matt_cole).

Please visit my Flickr site for a greater selection of my images.

24th August 2010: Some new images of hoverflies feeding (Marmalade hoverflies and Sphaerophoria scripta) have been added together with a few more grasshopper images (Common Meadow, Common Field and Common Green Grasshoppers).

17th August 2010: I was recently contacted by the editor of The Photographer magazine (the magazine of the British Institute of Professional Photography) to ask if he could write an article about my macro photography. Obviously I agreed, and the result is a 4 page spread in the August/September issue. (Click thumbnail for a larger image of pages 1/2 and here for pages 3/4).

9th August 2010: Lots of new images added, including grasshoppers (and an unusual image of a grasshopper being attacked by an ant), Small Skipper, Small Copper, Painted Lady and Holly Blue butterflies, a Robber Fly, an impressive Vapourer Moth caterpillar, a mating pair of Emerald Damselflies, an extreme close-up of a Horse Fly (which shows you why it hurts when they bite you) and finally a Dartford Warbler from a recent trip to Suffolk - good to see them around after the harsh winter.

27th July 2010: I recently found a small group of black aphids on a foxglove in my garden and noticed several black ants in amongst them. The 2 species have a mutualistic relationship whereby the ants protect the aphids from predators and in return the aphids provide the ants with small drops of sugary honeydew which the ants eat. Through my macro lens (Canon MPE-65) it is possible to see the ants gently stroking the aphids with their antennae and every now and again they would eat (drink?) a globule of honeydew, helping it into their mouths with one of their antennae. The challenge is to actually get a globule of honeydew in the shot but this is very difficult because the aphids produce it only sporadically and the ants consume it almost instantly. In addition the very narrow depth of field at these magnifications (less than 0.3mm) means even if the honeydew is in the frame it is not often in the plane of focus. I've added 6 new images in total, one of a black ant on its own, 3 of a black ant in amongst the aphids and 2 with the honeydew actually visible (this one and this one).

6th July 2010: I've always been intrigued by the idea of 'wideangle macro' i.e. shots of insects that include much of the insect's environment. My fisheye lens is quite good for this sort of shot so on a recent early morning visit to a nature reserve I tried this technique on a sleepy Brown Hawker dragonfly that I was lucky enough to find. I've added 2 images. I've also included 4 more conventional views of the Brown Hawker together with images of a Scorpion Fly, a Green Lacewing and a Lesser Marsh Grasshopper.

16th June 2010: I was lucky enough to recently have an encounter with a Ruby Tailed Wasp, one of our most attractive insects in my opinion. Their colours are remarkable. I've added 3 images. I've also added images of a male and female Banded Demoiselle damselfly and a couple of a nice Longhorn beetles.

6th June 2010: I recently visited a new site and found a large number of newly emerged Broad Bodied Chaser dragonflies (strangely, all were female). I've added four images. I also photographed my first Common Blue butterfly of the year, a pair of mating Burnet moths, and a very co-operative Dingy Skipper butterfly. New images of each have been added.

1st June 2010: A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to find a damselfly nymph as it left a pool and climbed up a reed. Within a couple of minutes the damselfly started to emerge - a remarkable process. I've added 3 images.

28th May 2010: Lots of new images added including 2 close-ups of a Jumping Spider, a couple of a Red Lily Beetle, a Fourteen-Spot Ladybird and a Nomada Bee on a flower.

14th May 2010: I entered 2 images in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 competition earlier this year and have now been told that they've both reached the final round. Great I thought, although I've since found out that approximately 1,600 images have reached the final round! Having said that, last year there were over 43,000 images entered in total so 1,600 still represents the top 3% or so. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

10th May 2010: It's that time of year when insects start to think about increasing their numbers and I recently found a pair of Seven-Spot Ladybirds putting their thoughts into practise. I've also added a few images of a sleeping Nomada bee, with its jaws locked onto a small piece of conifer.

2nd May 2010: Continuing the bee theme, I've added 3 new images of Miner Bees.

26th April 2010: This year seems to be a good year for bees and I've seen quite a good variety in my garden. One bee I've not seen before is the evocatively titled Hairy Footed Flower Bee and I've seen a few of these in my garden over the last 2-3 weeks. I was lucky enough to find one sleeping in the way that many bees do, with its jaws locked around a leaf stem and have added a couple of images. I've also added images of a Drone Fly and a Bumble Bee feeding.

14th April 2010: I've added an image of a Ladybird sitting on a Daffodil petal and a couple of extreme close-ups of flies. As always, new images can be found in the Latest Images gallery as well as in their appropriate section of the main gallery (in this case the Flies gallery and the Bugs and Beetles gallery).

11th April 2010: My attention is now turning to insect photography, although I'm still sorting through some bird images from last month. I've added a couple of images of Little Grebes which will probably be my last non-insect images for a while!

29th March 2010: I recently had the opportunity to photograph some water voles, a species seen all too rarely these days along our rivers and canals. They're very photogenic, particularly if you can find a co-operative one! I've added 4 new images.

16th March 2010: I have two images in the April issue of Outdoor Photography magazine portfolio section, a Small Skipper butterfly and a Banded Demoiselle damselfly. I also won a Lowepro rucksack! (Click thumbnail for a larger image).

12th March 2010: One of my favourite birds to photograph is the Nuthatch and I recently had another brief session with a pair of them. I've added a couple of images (here and here).

5th March 2010: A week or two ago I found my first ladybird of the year, looking rather cold and damp sheltering among some leaves. I thought it was the first sign of spring, although a couple of inches of snow have been and gone since then.

28th February 2010: With spring hopefully not too far away I have updated my macro photography hints and tips page, both the text and the images.

17th February 2010: At the end of January I decided to try some winter macro and set about looking for suitable subjects. Under a log in my garden I found a few woodlice and a Harvestman and have uploaded a few images.

2nd February 2010: The cold weather in January resulted in a huge number of Fieldfares and Redwings visiting the UK from Scandinavia. We had one or two of each visiting our garden, with the Fieldfares particularly fond of apples. I've added a shot of a Fieldfare eating an apple in the snow.

25th January 2010: A bird that I've always struggled to photograph well is the Pied Wagtail, basically because they are always on the move. I was quite pleased with a recent shot of one in the frost and have added it to 'Latest Images' and the 'Other Birds' gallery.

18th January 2010: I've added a couple of Nuthatch shots taken shortly before Christmas and a Blue Tit too for good measure.

11th January 2010: One of my 'Springtail on Ice' images has been made Image of the Week on Juza's website (see here).