Fruit flies feeding

I had such a good two sessions at the grove today, I hardly know where to begin, sometimes the blip monster just likes me. I had so many images to choose from, so I have put the rejects in blipfolio if you are interested.

The first opportunity was a butterfly that specializes in banana flowers. I found it sleeping on the underside of a banana leaf. Unfortunately, too far away to get a good, lit image, but the reflection of the rim light in its eye lit it up like shiny star.

Next followed shots of a black wasp and the same copulating. This has already been blipped, so nothing new here. I also collected another shot of the spider, showing the patterning on its abdomen, looks like a custom car 'go-faster' flame job. I was thinking of my mate Iain (Euphemist) when I took it.

I then spotted the fruit flies around the rotting papaya fruit tree. For some reason no one has bothered to pick the fruit, I'd have a go myself, but it is quite high up. One of the fruits has broken open and the flesh has dripped onto the ground, attracting a herd of fruit flies. I decided that this would make an impressive blip, but it had to be gross to work.

Standing above and shooting down on the flies just didn't portray the grossness, so I had to get down and dirty with the rotting fruit and the flies. I am trying out a new repellant cream and it worked really well, not a single fly on my legs or arms. In fact, the only place that I did not apply the cream was up my nose, three times I had to blow a fly out of my nose, most disconcerting.

The memory card was getting full, so I returned to the lab to upload and process the images so far. There was plenty of blip material, but I just had to return for another go. The light was still good even with a thin cloud covering, so I went back to the fruit flies, in search of grossness. At one point, the view in the eyepiece became clouded, I checked the lens and there was a leaf stuck to the skylight filter. I went to remove it and it moved, it was a butterfly, attracted by the UV rim light.

I continued the fruit fly shoot and a common sailor butterfly landed right in front of me, to join in the fruit feast. I already had my chin in the mud, so I was able to collect some interesting angles on the butterfly. It is called the sailor because of the way it flies. It basically glides or sails, occasionally flicking its wings for momentum before gliding again. An impressive sight.

Eventually the light failed with heavier cloud rolling in, so I explored the rest of the grove to see what else the blip monster had for me. I collected a fine image of a dragonfly, a caterpillar and a ladybird before I called an end to the session.

The fruit feeding sailor butterfly would have made a fine blip, but I decided to go with the gross plan. The stench of the rotting fruit was not very pleasant, so I hope you enjoy the result.

Dave