bugs

[StrandedSnowMonkey]

Originally Posted by Dream Angel

WOW Snow Monkey !! Awesome picture ! I really like how the bee and some of the flowers are detailed and the rest of the flowers just blend into the background.

At first quick glance I thought the bee was enjoying a popcorn plant, lol !

Hi Dream Angel! :)

They are little explosions of flowers!

It certainly was as big as a bumble, and I don't think that I've seen a hoverfly like it before. Here's another picture:



There's lots of the smaller ones about:



Dragonflies have such amazing colours! I'm always a little surprised when a butterfly decides to stay in my hand for a while, before fluttering off. There was a smaller one the other day, which moved around onto a finger, to get a bit more comfortable, before it uncoiled it's proboscis. So I just watched and felt it moving around, and after a while it coiled back up :)

Oh! A beautiful daytime moth, that I came across at an Iron Age hill fort:

[Adrienne]

More awesome photos Snow Monkey ! I have never seen a hoverfly before your pictures.

Quite an angle on the second "popcorn plant and hoverfly " pic. Were you laying on the ground while taking that picture ?

and the vibrant colors in that last picture !! Beauties of summer ......

[StrandedSnowMonkey]

Hi :)

I did laugh at myself before taking the first one, as I was making it hard to get a picture. If I had tried a little harder, I would have been on the ground! lol

~ it was nice that it didn't move, considering how close I was :)

Yesterday there was a bumble of the floor of the greenhouse. I was clearing it out, and there it was behind a few things. So, I grabbed the piece of card which I keep handy, to help it outside. Most walk quite happily onto the card, but this one wanted to take off, and so there was a little buzz of it's wings first. Usually I place them on a slab, and keep an eye on them. Although it was moving around, it was still there a little while later. I was told that bee's can get dehydrated, so I put a few little puddles on the slab, leaving it to it. Again, after doing a few things, it was still there. It looked like it was struggling to move a little on one side, and then I thought about the popcorn plant! Taking a few flowers, I used the cardboard to help it find a flower. Leaving it for a little while longer, it was not looking too good, but I tried again anyway. After leaving it one final time, I watched the other bumbles and then picked a large flower from the same plant. The little popcorn flowers where small, but I could really see the bumble feeding, holding it in my hand. When it stopped, I moved it over to a flower on the plant. There was no way that I was going to leave it now, in case it fell off. A few minutes later, it stopped feeding, and it looked like it was cleaning itself, before it flew off....

... no more leaving them on the ground ~ a couple more have been put onto that plant now! :)

[Morpheus]

I think it can be classified as a "Garden Spider", which is a category exhibiting various colored Spiders. It is nearly as big as your thumb, with a web of about a foot or more, regarding the round middle area, residing in the Garage.
Outdoors, I've seen Lime green colored ones, and black and white striped.

It's profile.



The intricacy of it's large web reveals their intelligence in engineering. The main round part is interesting enough, but, the supporting areas which are attached to thefixtures, also, with cross pieces, attached.

Listening to Coast to Coast am right now, interesting that they have a Cryptozoologist on, talking about unusually large Spiders.
Where I am, Tarantulas are not an unusual sighting either.

Also, wasn't until I came out to this neck of the woods that I'd seen what is called the, Jerusalem Cricket.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket

[Jom]

The detail in bugs and insects has been making it's impression on me very important lately. I have never been so fascinated with the small wonder of living beings, of which I am now one with, because I exist as being a bug as I am no better than any one... can't say.

There has to be a deeper connection with bugs and humans than we think or feel for, thought or felt, just in awe in search of a bug wonder.

Now, I'm going out to commune with... eveything.

[Clover]

Oh beautiful photographs. I like your processor.

My 5 year old has officially retired her princess dresses and movies for Bugs and Boys. We are in the adventure stage now. I have invested a great deal in bug traps, bug nets, kits, bug playgrounds. I never knew these tools existed. There are crickets all up in my home It's been an amusing ride, well, kind of gross actually, but if it helps her learn and develop some scientific skills I am all for it. After she is done playing, all trapped bugs are released back into the wild.

[knightofalbion]

Lovely photographs!

When you see them in close up like that, it makes one appreciate how beautiful and wonderful they are ...

[knightofalbion]

Be kind to insects. All God's creatures - large or small.

[Jom]

I was out in the backyard again, in the middle of the garden where I use no insecticide and saw a large red colored fly land on a bean plant and it made me want to fall down and thank god as a bug. We all survive on this planet for a time with the chances of opening to the enlightenment of amazement and awe with each and every moment.

[linen53]

While watering my raspberries in the morning coolness yesterday, I happen to notice big black ants were pollinating the raspberry flowers. Go figure. Who'd-a-thunk-it?