Dylan inspires me to shut up!

 "And how many deaths will it take till we know, that too many people have died?"

Any Dylan fan will know these words from the great 'Blowin in the Wind' but I'm offering them up here as an example of a rhetorical question.

Because.....

Here's another-"Do you think that I sometimes rabbit-on a bit too much through these blog entries?"

Well I'll do my best to make this update the exception by letting the photos do the talking.

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO FOR A LARGER VIEW

A backlit sawfly larva

If you've ever wanted to see the digestion system of a sawfly larva, this is the picture for you!

A grasshopper 'moult'

It was only a couple of days ago that I said to a friend I'd never seen one of these.

Pholcus phalangioides

A soon to be parent carrying around her offspring

A PaleTussock Caterpillar

This is one of the skipper butterflies I photographed the same day that I found the moth eggs. I think this is actually a small skipper (that's it's name, I don't mean it's small, although, it is! Confusingly, there is little difference in size between a small and large skipper.)

Each year that passes brings different conditions and therefore some species perform better than others in any given year and I wondering if the weird-weather conditions this time around have been responsible for so many hoverflies being affected by fungus infections?

I've been studying this photo to see if it is all the same species affected and then whether it's also all males or females but can't be sure-I know there are folks who read my blog sometimes and will know though, so maybe my question will get answered in time?

It's very strange how these flies are compelled to climb a grass stem before they die-I read that it's something to do with the highest available spot? Quite why this happens is a mystery, 'it's a mystery I'm still searching for a clue. It's a mystery to me. Shot in the dark.....' Ahem! (Toyah, in case you were wondering? You weren't were you.)

The last picture for this entry is a wasp that I was able to focus stack to get more depth of field and detail. I think this may be a potter wasp but if this close-up of its face is evidence of a different species, please do inform me, I'm always willing to be corrected-in fact I love it!

Potter wasps belong to the family......hang on! I said I'd keep the rambling to a minimum...you'll have to look it up yourself!



Ooops! I promised to give you some idea of the size of the African land snails featured in my last blog update and so here's a photo taken with a 10p coin...

Alright then, I've realised my mistake myself and to avoid you pointing it out as well-this photo wasn't actually taken with a 10p coin...I used the camera.

Until the next time...