Strangely strange....

Some blog posts will suit certain folks...and others not. I would suggest that if you have a fear of spiders,or even, photos of spiders, then this one may be a 'not' for you! You have been warned.....

Having said all that, these,to my mind anyhow,are the cuties of the spider world and one of my favourite species...I speak of the Jumping Spiders.

I was lucky enough to find a pair of what I think may be Evarcha species? (don't hold me to that) and the........mating... was quite......energetic...

Well,that's something you won't see everyday...and here's another...

This is the 'birth' of tiny hoverfly larvae...

Click on any photo for a larger image

The eggs that these emerged from are only a couple of millimetres in length and so you can see how small the larvae themselves are.

I also came across another larva, this one was green...

And then, a couple of firsts for 2013 to follow. My first Common Blue Butterfly and also a Tortoise Bug...

And so to the 'stranger than strange' section for this update...

I love seeking out the odd or unusual in the natural world and here are a couple of offerings that illustrate this beautifully?

I think this one pictured above is the larva of the cereal leaf beetle. I have found these before and although this one differs a tad in colour/pattern, I reckon it must be the same species.

Second one is...well..is, more of a mystery at this stage. The only thing I can say at this stage is that, I have found something very similar before and although I was unable to come up with an identity, somebody was kind enough to offer a possible i.d. but...I can no longer find either the photo, or the identity...

More? Okay then...try this minute.....thing!

This one was just about 2mm I guess. May even be a connection to the one above? So many questions, and so little time...

Erm..as I began with spiders I think it's only fair to make sure that my arachnid warning was worthwhile and so I'll add this crab spider as well.

This was a bit of an experiment-one of those days when I left the macro lens at home in favour of an old 35mm film lens that I used with extension tubes. I was quite impressed with the detail and given it was just natural light, a reasonable result?

As for the condition of my little pinky? What can I say? The horrors of macro photography...if you look really closely you can see the top edge of my finger is missing a slice! That happened when I removed it whilst attempting to cut hardboard with a Stanley knife! It was a long time ago...I'm better now!

Eeeeek! This is all getting a little weird...I'll wind things up for this entry with something a bit nicer...

This colourful caterpillar is the larva of a micro moth-Depressaria daucella I think? If it isn't...then I am not to blame as I pinched the identity from somewhere else as I originally thought it was a sawfly larva....anyhow, that's it for now, toodle-pip!

Addition: 27/06/13

I don't normally so this but I'm adding a photo to clarify a point about the mystery bug....This is the one that was moving Maria...might help?

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...