But then I thought, sod it! What have they ever done for me? And so I flung off my John Travolta white suit and settled down to write this blog update...
And you can stop laughing at the thought of JJ in a white suit thank-you! It's stemming the flow of my creative juices.
Here we go then, it's Saturday November 221st as I write and...oh hang on, not 221st that would be ridiculous, 21st was what I meant. Looking out the window I feel that bug-hunting might have to be put on hold for a while?
A couple of participation photos to begin this update. We'll start with...
You must name the species from the silhouette, good luck.Fingers on buzzers!
Too easy huh...thought it might be. Try this for something a little more taxing...
Me? Haven't a clue. Alright I have an idea about the second one, and of course I know what the first one is because there would be little point in me setting a quiz that I didn't hold the answer too.
Weevily type weevil thingies next...
I suppose you'll be wanting me to identify these weevils for you? Okay, how's this. The first two are the same and the second one isn't.
A little bit of...
I was able to keep a watch on the sawfly larva I found at a local pond as it was on a small alder shrub and never did move from the one leaf I first spied it on. It grew into quite an impressive thing before disappearing from sight overnight...
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| Cimbex connatus-A Large Alder Sawfly Larva (Hymenoptera) |
An instance of my perceived weirdness now. What would most people do when they find a dead wasp in the window do you think? I'm guessing something a world apart from what I chose to do. Namely, use the opportunity to get a stacked image of the beast. Good fun but I wish I'd made a better fist of it. Not enough light!
What do I mean by not enough light? Let me re-phrase it, it was too dark! The longer explanation would be that I was trying to manage with natural light from the window only.However, I should have gone with my gut and not the camera's light sensor as I did. The lack of available (and even) light has resulted in a loss of clarity.
That's okay though, life is a learning curve isn't it. If not then this is...
Actually, mine can be a bit more like this...
Now I don't mean to be a rouch, or a rump about this. I am trying to be grown-up. Gosh! it worked that time, perhaps it is radually improvin ?
onna i nore it and carry on re ardless...
A long, long time ago, but I can still remember, because it was January this year when I found this...
I thought at the time that it was a spider egg sac but wasn't sure and had no idea of species. Somebody suggested walnut orb-weaver possibly. Anyhow, I managed to find it again, it was early March and by this time the eggs inside and indeed, developing spiderlings were starting to show...
By the third week of March, they had emerged...
I think these could well be walnut orb-weaver spiderlings. Here's a single individual...
Well the first of these two pictures above is definitely slime mould but is the second fungi too? What else could it be?
I'll leave you to ponder that but please...don't lose any sleep over it? Meanwhile, here's an image I constructed from the patterns of a small tortoiseshell butterfly...
Until the next time...
7 comments:
And about time too!! ;-)
Worth the wait in any case as it's another excellent and funny blog!
No idea what the silhouette is... something obvious no doubt, but just can't place it.
Do know however what the second one is. It's the larva of one of the Trioza species, and probably this one: http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/homoptera/Psylloidea/Trioza_remota.html
Only recognised it as I recently had it's cousin on my desk (Trioza urticae)
Fantastic detailed shots as ever.
I think the wasp portrait is outstanding! Can't see how there could be any more clarity!
As regards the blobs that might be a fungus, or not... could they be regurgitated seeds? Just a thought, but most likely a wrong one! Lol!
Mx
Thanks for your comment as always Maria. Yes, sorry about the long wait for an update again. I have a couple more projects on the go that take up some of my time. Hmmm... I take that as a plus that you don't know the silhouette identity, 'cos you are great at this kinda thing. The second one you have come up trumps with though because I did know it was jumping plant lice but only because I had seen Rachel's (Nutmeg) photo of the exuvia. But you have been able to pin it down for me. Thanks for that, I doubt I would have got that far.
Thanks for your lovely comment about the wasp. As usual, I feel there was more mileage in that, if I had been a bit more thorough. You could be right about the 'seeds' it WAS my first thought too but, it seemed to be too embedded in the leaf and even showed from the other side that it was attached somehow and so, I really wasn't sure...
Extraordinary shots here! Those weevils with long snouts plus hands like antennas, sawfly larva, spiderlings or the lone little individual, each one is just superb! Thanks for sharing.
btw, sticky key may be only due to some dust / food particle? (yes, I know by experience :-), though it had taken me really long to figure out ).
Thanks for your comments..the sticky key has been that way since soon after I got this laptop, so don't think it'll be dust etc...;-)
Loony as ever but so long as the macros keep on coming..... is that second weevil the one that eats chestnuts? Love the spiderling story and I photograph dead insects too. You are not alone! :-)
Loony? Thanks for the ringing endorsement Mandy ...;-) Dunno is my answer about the weevil. It could possibly be Curculio elephas but they are so tricky to tell apart and there was no clue from the habitat and so I would put it down as Curculio sp. Phew! You photo corpses too ;-)
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