Emergence …
*Click on pictures for a better view.
Then it quickly found it’s legs and ran up the tree towards the light, away from the shadow of my lens, born again again.
Walking the edge of the water treatment plant, that borders the local wilds, I saw a strange – even to these experienced eyes – thing.
I couldn’t make it out at first, it looked so oddly shaped, but after a few shots – so I could see closer – it became apparent it was a form of Shield-bug, in the midst of a rarely observed transition.
They outgrow their shell, exoskeleton actually, and periodically have to moult – usually there is a split along the back through which the new form pushes out. A very dangerous time for them, being immobile for the duration and soft, vulnerable – to some degree held back by the tight fit of the old skin.
Springtime is here again and small creatures are emerging everywhere. At first in smaller size, visible by their increasing numbers. With spiders hatching in the hundreds, a feasting of expendable form, everything is living off something else.
A cascade of life and death begins, by which another emergence takes place, those relative few that live to maturity, who make up the cast of earthy characters.
… and I’ll probably get a few pictures of this burgeoning operatic show.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Morning Queen
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First light of the day is a good time to catch the wildlife unawares. They haven’t quite woken up yet, aren’t so active as when it warms up.
And first thing today there was an ant. A queen of her kind, Green Head kind. She must have taken flight at first light, I’d guess.
Her wings took her to an old lemon on a stake, where I couldn’t get a shot, so I helped her to the butterfly bush.
I thought she might slow down there and even take some nourishment from the little yellow cups.
And so she did, before some preening, then wandering off round the nearest leaves.
So I present to you, a queen of the morning …
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Keeping It Simple …
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Still …
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Bee – Blue Banded Beauty
Keeping it simple …
© Mark Berkery ……. Click the picture for a closer lookk Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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A Blast …
… from the past.
A few pictures from earlier this year, since there has been so few to shoot lately with the advanced cold of our winter.
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The way to view these pictures is not to name but to sense, then go do it in the garden, if you want a sense of peace.
These images are representative of something else that, when duly attended, echoes colourfully in the mind.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Introducing …
… variations in form, of one life.
Wild, instinctive little biological robots at work and play, or just being what they are.
Jumping Spider sitting on bamboo stake, overseeing …
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Chafer – Flower – Beetle, belatedly found the one piece of banana in the garden.
Weevil on the orange, on a bamboo stake.
Tiny female Fly laying into the ageing lemon on a stake.
Daisies, a popular roost for flies at night. This one preening after a good poo, like people do.
Tiny Bee roosting on the aromatic dried out Basil.
Injured or deformed Hopper, same spot for a week. The one on the left is how they look normally.
And not one problem between them … evidently.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Travelling Ant
Out on my wandering in the local byways I often come across something unique, that I only ever see once.
As I was crossing this fallen – with a little help – fence I noticed there was an occupant of unusual character.
The ant, a kind I haven’t seen before, was using the fence line as a highway across the otherwise difficult terrain and appeared in no hurry.
It had been dry for a few days so I wet the line where the ant would pass and when they met it stopped to take a sip. Free moisture can be a rarity in the wild.
An ant might travel the equivalent of many miles for a drink, but not today. Manna from the sky, and it clearly enjoyed it, stopping to sip a while before resuming its journey.
I could wonder where that ant was going but I know already. It’s going home, if it’s not already there.
Small, instinctive, non self reflective mind.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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All Sorts …
… from the garden and beyond. Some creatures are only ever seen once, or stop only long enough for one shot. These are a few of those.
If you’re into macro it pays to let the garden manage itself as much as possible. It may take time but it takes time for life cycles to establish and creatures to emerge, whatever the season.
Plant them, feed them, prune them, move them but otherwise let things be as much as possible – whatever you do don’t poison them, if you can help it. Works for me.
Creature of the darkness … Longhorn beetle, favoured the dried out stems for a few nights.
*Click the pictures for a bigger version – the better to see them.
Ant takes time out of its solitary patrol to preen. A few seconds and it was on its way again.
Assassin Bug nymph, shelters under the red flower during the day and hunts at night – lately.
Plant Hopper, looks all bent but it may be moulting – a long time at it.
Click Beetle up on a leaf in the dead of night, shows up once in a blue moon.
Male Lynx spider, caught a fruit-fly meal on a decaying lemon staked in the garden.
Teddy Bear Weevil? Soft and gentle looking. On a post in the car park of the local rainforest remnant.
Bluebottle in the garden, they don’t stop long at all for a shot.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Life On A Lemon
Him – with the longest front legs, on a lemon.
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Her, on an orange.
It on my finger. Every time I tried from the side it turned away.
She is actually laying beneath the skin here. He appears to be guarding, attending her.
It got crowded on the lemon after a while.
Alone at last.
Oh, oh … here comes trouble.
Two males fighting over a female, antennae and legs flailing. Not the best but the only shot.
For a change, she appears to seek him out.
These little things, about a centimetre long, are living out their lives on an ageing lemon in the garden, on a bamboo stake. They are attracted to something about the decaying fruit, mold, fungus or/and other qualities not discernible to me.
They live on similarly decaying oranges, and the occasional banana – I have a veritable orchard staked in the garden, all good fun – just to attract the faeries from the bottom of the garden.
Did you know the faeries are insects? Yes, that’s the form they take. And some take no sensible form, preferring the fleetness and relative safety of the insubstantial. Each has its advantages.
The point is though, these creatures of story are in your garden too, if only you look to see, and not to judge. No need for any psychic nonsense either, they are detectable by the senses.
And the wonder of it is sense makes more sense, no nonsense.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Nature's Place 
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