Northants photographer captures moment fly is snapped up by Venus fly trap

A Northants photographer has captured the moment an unsuspecting fly is caught in a Venus fly trap.
Venus fly traps are the most famous carnivorous plantVenus fly traps are the most famous carnivorous plant
Venus fly traps are the most famous carnivorous plant

The insect's final moments are captured in amazing detail on a super slow motion video.

Photographer Jamie Cooper, 50, took the images in the sunny conservatory of his home in Whilton, Northamptonshire.

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He said he had been fascinated with carnivorous plants since he was a boy and that capturing the event on film took a lot of patience.

Venus fly traps are the most famous carnivorous plantVenus fly traps are the most famous carnivorous plant
Venus fly traps are the most famous carnivorous plant

The video shows the insect landing on the plant and collecting nectar from the surface.

After walking across the leaves, he triggers the trap to close in around him.

He can then be seen struggling in an attempt to escape before the plant releases its fatal enzymes.

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Mr Cooper said: "I set up a camera with a macro lens and an LED ring flash where you can have lights on constantly - with macro photography you need try and have light on the subject.

"So I just set it up on a tripod and had to have a lot of patience and had to wait for the flies.

"Some of them came in but escaped again so it was probably about half-an-hour before I actually got the footage of the fly meeting its end.

"I've always been fascinated by carnivorous plants probably since I was a kid seeing them on the television with David Attenborough.

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"They are an amazing species. They have obviously evolved to take their nutrients from insects rather than out of the ground.

"If you look on the video there are some little trip hairs. If you imagine each of the leaves looks like a clam shell and each has three little hairs.

"The insect has to touch two or three of those and that sounds an electrical impulse."

"I didn't buy the plant especially. I do just have a lot of flies in my house when its sunny because we back onto fields.

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"So there's quite a lot of flies coming in and its quite a natural way to keep fly populations down."

Venus fly traps are the most famous carnivorous plant and originate from low-lying flatlands in coastal North Carolina.