Red spotted wasp

Today's session at the grove started at 07:30. I had intended going a bit later, but the sun was out, which meant that the insects would be out earlier than usual. With all the rainfall that we've had here over the last week, the grove has sprouted up about a foot and all the plants are looking very lush.

The insects were indeed out and so were the mozzies, twenty feet in and I felt an itch on my wrist. Sure enough, a mozzy enjoying breakfast at my expense, but not just any mosquito, a black and white one. Perhaps the most feared insect in Indonesia, the haedes mosquito is the carrier of dengue fever. Not every haedes is infected, but the disease is only carried by this particular mozzy, so If I stop blipping in a week or two, you'll know the reason why.

Dengue is the curse of Indonesia as there is no immunization pill or injection to prevent it. There are four types of dengue fever. They are all nasty, but not particularly life threatening first time around, provided you seek medical attention. But the second time that you catch the same strain of dengue you are in trouble, as the disease progresses into hemorrhagic dengue, survivable, but a definite killer. There is plenty of reading on the web should you be interested, do a Google on 'dengue Bandung' and have a look.

I had forgotten to apply my insect repellant, so I had to return to the house, but ten minutes later I was back in business. Yesterdays blip grew on me every time I looked at it, so I thought that it might be interesting to make a mini series of end-on shots, so that became my challenge for the session.

What a great session it was. I collected ten different insects, a moth wasp, dragonfly, hopper, three types of butterfly, a spider, two types of wasp and a weird insect. I could not wait to get back to the lab, but with all the snaking around in the undergrowth, I had managed to lose my ignition key for the bike. I had to walk back to the house and make a new one. Not such a difficult feat though, the real lock mechanism broke a long time ago, so I made a new key system using a phono plug from my electronics kit.

On the way back to the house, I thought that this could be fate telling me to get back for another session, as I had to return anyway. So I downloaded the card, made a new key and returned for another go. I added three more insects to the list, another dragon, a curious insect and a big wasp which I swear attacked me, causing me to fill my underpants and squeal like a girl. My aversion to wasps is improving, but obviously still not cured.

Out of the first session, one of the butterflies didn't make the grade and unfortunately a long thin wasp, which I have been after for a long time, but it is very illusive. If I had nailed it, a definite blip, head on or not. All in all I had eight shots from the first session and seven from the second to choose from. I must have flicked through them all a hundred times, trying to choose a blip.

In the end I chose the red spotted wasp in flight because it scared the crap out of me. I have put the rest in blipfolio 2011-11-08 so that you can see my problem for yourself. Let me know what you would have chosen.

Dave