Tag: mantis

what’s been bugging me

In the six years this blog has been going, I’ve posted a number of pictures of bugs and creepy crawlies, so I thought I’d bring some of them together in an entomological collection.

My very first blog bug was this giant moth (it had a wingspan of about five inches). I wrote about it in May 2007 in the post Wings in the Night:

Giant peacock moth
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feather brained

The village is running an ornithological photography competition.

mantis close-up of head and antennae. Probably Empusa pennata adult male
Sadly, although many birds visit the garden – blackbirds, hoopoes, azure-tailed magpies, jays, warblers, black caps, treecreepers… – not to mention the herons down by the river and the hawks and eagles who share our airspace, they all have a nasty habit of flying away before I can get my camera out, let alone focus it.

So unless I build a hide in the greenhouse and stalk what I think must be a pair of black redstarts who are nesting there, or set up the step ladder on the verandah and try and peer into the swallows’ neat adobe home, neither of which seem to be recommended courses of action, I don’t think I’ll be entering the competition.

I have, however, had a little more luck taking pictures of this marvellous creature with his spectacular feathered antennae. (Go on: click the photo and check him out close up!)
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