Resin and amber 2

Yesterday we re-visited the tree where we found resin last autumn (see Resin and amber).

This time we decided to take a small piece of resin home with us so we could look more closely to see what small creatures had become trapped in it.

The body of this ichneumon fly measured 4mm.

A small mite, measuring about 1.2mm. There were large numbers of these.

Another mite or small spider with a body length of about 1mm.

A small fly

After many millions of years, resin such as this, containing a microcosm of life from our time, would solidify and become amber.

For more information about amber and the creatures found in it, see

"Jewel of the earth," which includes a complete transcript of the David Attenborough programme and many images.

Thanks to those who helped identify the insects in our blog post of 8th August. They were the hoverfly, Volucella bombylans, and a male Heather Fly, Bibio pomonae.

Resin and amber

Recently Fred and I watched a film about amber and the insects and other creatures that get trapped in it (David Attenborough's 'The Amber Time Machine'). Amber is a resin produced by some trees which has hardened over a period of millions of years. The creatures are trapped on the sticky resin when it is first produced by the tree, and they are then preserved in perfect condition within the amber. They can tell us a lot about the conditions at the time when the resin was produced.

Today we were walking through the forest and found a tree which was producing a large amount of resin. We thought it would be interesting to see if any creatures were trapped in the resin.

We were amazed to find quite a collection of creatures. In this picture, to the left there are two spiders plus part of a third, and to the right there are two small insects which look like a mite and an ant.

Perhaps such creatures will be found in amber millions of years in the future.