Wasp Attack!

Well, a huge response to yesterday's lizard blip, he certainly is a popular chap. I guess people would pay a lot of money to contain him in a glass tank next to the TV, but you will have to take my word that owning him is nothing compared to him owning me in the wild. I could easily reach out and pluck him from the tree like a ripe fruit and put him in a box to take home, but the thought never crosses my mind. Thank you all for the hearts and stars, so appreciated, makes me want to grab my camera and go and do some more.

There was heavy rain in the night, so it was going to be a muddy safari today. It also meant that I might have a chance of finding a tree frog. So, stealth was the plan, not because tree frogs are skittish, but the only chance of finding one is by examining carefully every leaf and stem.

Extreme stealth also means that you find a lot more than you bargained for. Today I found my first tree snake, his face not three feet from mine! Oddly enough I didn't panic, but raised my camera very slowly, but to no avail. He slithered back into the thick foliage and all I got were a couple of blurry shots of moving body, two clicks under exposed as I had just been shooting a yellow flower and forgot to reset the camera. Well that was exciting!

I also found another green crested lizard, same as yesterday's. This time I was able to shoot to my hearts content. The light was dappled as it filtered through the leaves. The slight breeze meant I was able to time my shots for varying types of lighting. I even tried a few flash, but they were a washout as you would expect. As I type this, I am sorely tempted to blip him, but two days on the trot just doesn't seem right, but the shots are very good I think. More processing to do yet, so stop typing and get on with it!

I captured some reasonable shots of the wasp attack on the ants. I am hoping for a better shot but still a contender. The snake shots came out a bit better than I thought they would, but no head - no blip.

The elusive blue birdwing butterfly that I got a piece of and blipped 28th July, landed right in front of me, so a lot to be said for extreme stalking. She never fully opened her wings, but I was able to angle the shot so that I at least got one wing in focus. Not in the best of condition but still a contender.

Fifty shots of a slow moving inchworm and I couldn't nail it. A few dragon and damsel shots, ladybirds, wasp moth, tortoise bug, a copper hopper, a wasp stinging a grub and some flowers. I still cannot decide what to blip.

Decided to blip the ant attack, only because there was some action. Probably the wrong decision, so feel free to have your say, as I have put the rest up on Flickr for your perusal.

Update - Identification - sand digger wasp (thanks Tigger101).

Dave