Weevil Days …
At rest, unworried by the missing lower rear leg. Weevil being what weevil does.
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Still and unmoved by the giant nearby. A perfect opportunity to become acquainted.
Up on the stick he became more lively, familiar sense of wood underfoot, antennae outstretched alert.
For whatever weevil might find. A tangle of dried roots at the end of a stick. That led back to the green.
Weevil on the wheelybin lid – yellow for recyclables, just sitting there, unaware of the swirl of the world beyond.
So I got a stick and encouraged it to climb on. It obliged, and after a short journey and a few shots I sent it into a nearby tree.
Happy it seemed to be on the green again, it lifted those long legs and disappeared into the shimmering sense of nature.
No problem … on his little weevil mind.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Life Goes On …
Green Shield Bug with a drop of water from the hose, waiting out the shower.
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Variations on the angle of approach, for background/contrast and eye level contact.
Pluck a leaf and raise ‘im up. Alarms the bug for a moment, enough to send it into hiding.
But not for long … turn the leaf over and there it is, exposed and hesitant – perceiving no danger.
Way to go … the upside down view of the world. Sometimes I think everything needs upending, for a fresher view.
A green shield bug at the end of summer, loitering on the greenery. Hasn’t yet been moved to insert that needle mouth into a vein for the available nourishment.
But it will … everything lives off something else. Until it in turn dies and feeds another form, ever burgeoning, ad infinitum.
The life behind unmoving …
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Black Wasp
Already debilitated but job not done yet. Wasp resumes work on dismembering spider.
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Powerful and efficient butcher, the wasp takes no chances and makes no mistakes.
Resumes her butchery in a forceful manner, expressive of her no-nonsense ways.
She inspects spider to maintain methodology, removing those long and – could be – deadly legs.
Using her wings now to increase traction on the object of her desire. Time is of the essence.
Spiders legs can often regrow, but not this time … Severing another leg to make flying easier.
Change of position, having a go at the deadly mandibles, which may still be a threat – if only to her young.
Job almost done, package nearly ready, she prepares to carry spider away to her home in the BBB’s nest.
Spider legs strewn about. Package almost ready to fly. One last go at those venom packed mandibles.
I was pottering around the house and saw this Huntsman limping along the ground.
Limping because some legs were missing and it couldn’t run as Huntsmen do so well.
Limping out into open space when ordinarily it would be in the opposite direction, under cover.
So, thinking it might be confused (for some reason), I gave it a nudge towards the undergrowth.
But it wasn’t having it, kept on heading out into open space and nothing I could do about it.
Then the black wasp with yellow antennae showed up and attacked the spider with a will.
It had already been working on it, spider confused by venom but not yet subdued.
So she, the wasp, stung the spider again, and again, and proceeded to dismember it.
To carry it away to her nest at the edge of the garden, to feed her young.
What they do, we do … our existential nature.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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I Spy
As I was passing the Blue Banded Bee hotel I saw this on the wooden base below. A dead fly with no ants in attendance. And knew from experience what it signified.
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Means there was nothing of it left to eat, or the ants surely would … A jumping spider I saw the day before had already extracted any nourishment, here with a new meal.
Change the approach angle slightly, keeping spider eyes the centre of attention, to get more of the scene in focus. You never know what you’ve got until it’s done.
Another angle, another opportunity to investigate spider eating fly. The small hole, about 4mm diameter, probably home to something else.
After the spider was done s/he was energetic enough to go in search of new pastures, probably looking for a mate. As all things do in time, separate and apart. … Such is life, or living.
I keep an eye on the Blue Banded Bee hotels in case of invasion by undesirables, like the fly.
But who’s to say the fly is not good for the ecology of the BBB’s nest site. Not me …
So I largely leave them be, or chase them off if I think they are too many for comfort.
They harass the BBB’s as they approach the nest and I’m not sure what they are up to.
Parasitising the BBB, or playing tag, or who knows … I sometimes intervene.
The fly is subject to a higher authority.
Aren’t we all …
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Horseshoe Colour
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The horseshoe beetle living its life out on the sweet potatoe leaves. With some nasturtium and other for wallpaper.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Invisibility …
A kind of shield bug, a pair mating on a tree trunk in the garden.
… helps when you walk slowly around the trunk of a tree and the birds are about, if you want to survive.
These creatures look like they’ve been surviving since the dinosaurs.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Sleepy Wasp
Just a little smudge of black on the wood at first sight.
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It occurred to me to stop and look, just in case it was something to shoot.
Because often you don’t know until you get up close what it is.
And it was. She started to move soon after but not enough to fly away.
Yet … But it’s inevitable, every flying creature takes to the wing soon enough.
Gotta work fast sometimes …
Little black wasp found sleeping on a Blue Banded Bee hotel one morning.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Focus …
Was a little shy to begin with, presenting only a shot from the rear at first. Quietly does it, take what comes …
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Only sensation, calm established, no alarming events in his little mind to relate as I come side-on. Aiming for profile …
Angle a little better, background still too dark and empty, but looking more his elegant self. Character emerging …
Communication established, an absence of the force of movement keeps the peace. The basis for introductions …
That’s better, a relaxed fly doing some preening exercises, indicates he’s focused within and likely to remain so a while.
Probably a good time to maneuver for the shot I want. Getting there in increments – move, frame, shoot, maneuver …
And there we are, more or less. A background window of blue sky comes into frame and he’s in his element. Little beauty …
While watering in a corner of the garden a drone fly did dance.
He came and went among the leaves, inviting me to a few shots.
Thinking he’d be gone before I got back, got the camera quicker.
Surprise, surprise, there he was. Still dancing around the shadows.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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Lil Bee
On the calendula, collecting pollen for her little ones to be.
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A little nectar too, for her own wellbeing, to keep on being a bee.
Preening in another flower, what bees do by their nature.
Basking in the yellow, cooler than red, colours matter, to this bee.
A bee in the garden on a hot summers day.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look … and click again.
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