Out and about again

I need to get out today, 100% fit or not. Mrs. Ha accompanied me so I had the bonus of a very sharp pair of eyes. I did not try anything too ambitious – just a trip to the local patch. Even so, as we arrived we were treated to a splendid Changeable lizard, all yellows, browns and shades of red camouflaging it against the leaf litter. I did not attempt a photograph as I knew it would disappear the moment I tried to get down to lizard eye level.

We seem to be going through a late butterfly boom after weeks if not months of disappointment. An area at the far end of the reserve was host to clouds of common species and I joined a few others trying to find the most photogenic of the bunch. These were my two favourites of the Common (or Dark veined) Tiger:

The light was excellent but the challenge was to isolate individual insects amongst the dozens floating and bouncing around in the gentle sunlight.

As we walked around the lotus pond I took a fair few shots of the strange grasshoppers that I had seen a couple of months ago. The bonus today was to see different life-cycle stages together. They were not quite close enough but the images will do for the purpose intended, which is in the case not aesthetic but to try and establish the chain of change from nymph to imago. That needs a whole post to itself.

Instead, next an Asian pintail. This is a species I have taken before but the light was nice today and I was quite happy with this one:

Acisoma panorpoides panorpoides

And then Mrs. Ha spotted a caterpillar I had completely overlooked. This is the 5th (and final) instar larva of the Indian Fritillary butterfly:

Argyreus hyperbius

By this time my somewhat weak constitution decided it needed a break and we headed home. I am happy just to have  breathed some fresh(ish) air and put the old camera to good use again. The future’s bright, the future’s insectiform.