CleanSteve

By CleanSteve

The nearly drowned grasshopper drying out

Outside the back door on my way out to the garden I noticed a brown object on the surface of some rainwater that had collected in a large container. On inspecting more closely I realised it was a grasshopper that must have made a leap from the nearby plants in pots on the back steps. I don’t know how long it had been there but there was no sign of movement. 

I found a small container and scooped up the grasshopper with some water and took it to a larger established plant at a lower level nearer the garden. It didn’t move when I eased it out onto some leaves where I thought it could revive itself if that was possible. Within a minute or two as I stood watching one of its limbs started twitching and I knew it was alive. It wasn’t long before it made slightly sturdier movements of its legs and  then it moved a few inches. 

I left it for a few more minutes then came baclk with my camera. I followed it as it started to use its legs to brush its skin as if it was brushing the water off itself. It then moved off the plant leaves and onto a metal rod near the pots before ending u with a small jump onto the rim of this container where this photograph was taken. 

I thought I should blip it as a mark of not only having grasshoppers in the garden but of a ‘good deed’ for the day. I’m delighted to have helped its I’m sure if I hadn’t seen it it would have died in the water. Too many insects do.

When I came back a little while later it had left for pastures new.

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