Pick’n’Mix, bugshot style

I doubt very much if you would have found any of these at “The 3d and 6d” store as Woolies used to be known before it met an untimely demise in Britain. As it staggered and lurched towards insolvency all I can recall was that it had a pick and mix section for the sweets (candies). I thought of this title simply because there was no obvious theme to yesterday’s leftovers. Yesterday’s honey is today’s bubble and squeak.

So wander around the sweetshop and see if there is anything here that takes your fancy. I have to warn you that there is a lizard shot in here and some people don’t like them. My elder daughter, for example, is petrified of frogs. An old and now sadly deceased family friend could not watch snakes even on TV. Far worse than saying ‘mattress’ to Mr. Lambert. And I am afraid I have a thing about leeches. Snakes, fine. Regulators  Leeches, not fine. I have a photo of me with a python wrapped around my neck and, from the same location in Zambia, me stroking a rather elderly crocodile whilst Mrs. Ha looks on aghast. I would not however appreciate a leech on my neck nor would I stroke one.

So here we go…..

Brachydiplax chalybea flavovittata

Now you’ve seen Blue Dasher before so that shouldn’t be too intimidating. But how about Blue Percher?

Diplacodes trivialis

Half the size of the dasher so also very cuddly.

Now LIZARD ALERT

Mabuya longicaudata

An absolutely gorgeous thing. We get them sunbathing outside our dining room windows. This one however was very much an exception in its willingness to sit and pose. It was sunning itself on a pile of brushwood and blending in superbly with the dead leaves. I was no more than 3′ away, probably less and I just wanted to get that eye in focus. It seemed unperturbed by my arrival and sat patiently whilst I got the tripod down almost to its level, worked out which angle provided the best composition and checked my exposure. I could almost sense it drumming its fingers. Good grief man, get on with it. Do you think I’ve got all day?

Now the next one is completely harmless unless perhaps you decide to ingest it.

Isn’t that nice? Just for you I have applied a Gaussian blur filter to the background to make the fungi stand out better (and I didn’t do a great job with the ‘Quick select’) so hopefully it passes muster.

Two more to go. One is a spider, so if you don’t like spiders look away now. But first. Bug sex.

Argidae sp.

These are actually sawflies. Like bees they sit (at least pro tem) in the order hymenoptera. I am indebted to Mercury Wong for providing a tentative ID – Arge similis. Not a great photo but I hadn’t noticed these little things before so I was determined to take a record shot if no more.

And that leaves me with the Lynx spider.

Oxyopes striatus.

I have posted an image of this species before but this is altogether a better one. Better angle, sharpness / DoF and colour rendition.

So there we are. That cleans out the dust in the bottom of the drawer of yesterday’s images. Not sure what I shall do tomorrow. Thursday is tentatively earmarked as a bird day. It depends how far away they are and what my tolerance for the heat and humidity is like. Back soon. You have been warned.

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